


Buy My Love

by knight_of_trash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha!Hunk, Alpha!Keith, Alpha!Shiro, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe, Beta!Pidge, Dealing with trauma without therapy, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Keith is a firefighter, Lance is a sex worker, Lance is an Omega for Hire, M/M, Masturbation, Mentions of miscarriage, Multi, Nightmares, Omega!Adam, Omega!Lance, Shadam, alpha!Allura, alpha!Lotor, mentions of mpreg, shiro/adam - Freeform, they/them pronouns for Pidge, which is to say
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 09:51:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16637669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knight_of_trash/pseuds/knight_of_trash
Summary: Keith has a problem that he believes Lance can help fix.Lance is in the business of giving people exactly what they need.





	1. Now Hiring

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU very near and dear to my heart.
> 
> I'm going to try and update this fic on a regular basis, nnd have planned 18 chapters, but let's see how that goes. Please, be patient with me, and expect literally anything and everything I can feasibly fit into one fic making it into this fic.

Lance winced as he knelt down to reach the base deck of the fine art aisle at his work. Pain radiated from his ass and raw pussy. He knew he was walking with a limp from how sore he felt, and prayed his nosy coworkers hadn’t noticed as he gingerly sat on the floor to stock the small paint bottles. As he tiredly rubbed at his face, his manager appeared at the top of his aisle. Iverson looked about 3 shades of red away from fire engine red. Apparently, he thought Lance wasn’t stocking freight fast enough…Never mind that this shift started at three in the goD DAMN MORNING! Lance groaned, swearing that this was the last time he EVER took a client the evening before he had a freight shift at this hell-hole of a craft store, especially one who had such rough ruts that he would continue to pound away even after Lance had reached that threshold of overstimulation. At least Lance felt sated. Too bad it was the kind of sated that left him feeling like he could sleep for seven years.

His swear was fleeting. His phone pinged a familiar tone. Ignoring the fact that Iverson the hard-ass was skulking around in the dark craft store, and whipped out his phone. If Iverson wanted to fume about Lance being on his phone, then maybe he shouldn’t schedule Lance five days in a row, at these super early morning hours.

He checked the notification, and felt himself smirk. It was an email, from a potential new client who was inquiring about hiring him. It was shy in wording, sparse, and questioning. Per Lance’s request on his account, the client-to-be had emailed him a file, complete with recent blood tests, and a rather flattering profile pic. God, Lance forgot how exhilarating the selection process was.

Quickly he messaged back, /Hey there, gorgeous! The name’s Lance. I’m glad you’ve picked me! I promise you won’t be disappointed. Are you available to meet up this afternoon and go over the details of our arrangement?/

/Yes. Where at?/ The new client asked.

/I’ll send you the address. I look forward to seeing you, Keith./

-

Lance sat at the mall food court, bouncing his leg as he waited for Keith to arrive as he window-shopped online, having just had $700 dropped into his bank account from his last client and was excited to blow some cash on a wish-list full of sex toys Lance had been eyeing for a while, having decided it was about time for him to get some upgrades. He was particularly excited about a floral looking one with a fat knot in a lovely, frosty blue color. Not that that he was some sort of sex-crazed omega…He was just an omega with a high libido, who happened to be an Omega for Hire, and a small addiction to insane looking dildos in pretty colors.

A flash of red caught his eye, and he looked up to see Keith approaching and waved to him. Keith hesitated, before stepping up to the table and sitting down across from Lance.

“Hey.” Keith said, shifting in his seat.

“Hey.” Lance responded, smiling brightly at him. “Well your profile picture doesn’t do you any credit. I’ve got to say, you’re a lot more handsome in person than you are in pictures.”

Keith grunted, “Thanks.”

“So, have you ever done this before?” Lance asked, leaning back in his chair to try and get Keith to relax a bit. The other man shook his head. “First time then? So some ground rules…You pay me a booking fee upfront, it’s so if you cancel, I’m paid for you standing me up. We set up a location, and spend some time together. Depending on what we do, how you use me, depends on how much I bill you. Think of it like getting work done on your car. The more you do, the more invasive it is, the more it’s gonna cost you. I set the limits and am in complete an utter control, even if I relinquish control to you and allow you to call the shots, I still get to back out if I do not feel safe or sane enough to rise to the challenge. If I back out, you might be entitled to reimbursement, but only under certain circumstances. If you overstep my boundaries, I am contractually obligated to refuse service and call the police. Do you understand?”

“That’s uhhh-…Lot to take in. Have you ever had to call the police before?” Keith asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Lance hummed as he thought back. “Yeah, once. I had some guy, a pretty alpha with mommy and daddy issues over-step during his rut and try to bond me. To be fair, I don’t think it was his fault entirely, he had never had a rut without suppressants before...But still, my safety comes first.”

“That’s more than reasonable.”

Lance smiled, “I’m glad you agree. Do you have any questions for me?”

“Uhh…” Keith blushed eyes darting down to the table. “What are your limits?”

“That’s a good question.” Lance said leaning forward on his elbows. “I’m okay with being tied up, moderate spanking, the whole BDSM thing…But I don’t do anything with that could leave permanent damage like knife-play, and I especially avoid hot wax, branding, and flames. Got it?”

“People are into that?!” Keith choked out.

Lance laughed loudly, “People are into what they’re into, Keith, but yeah. Speaking of…What are you into?”

“Me?” Keith scoffed. “I’m not really comfortable talking about that…”

“I like being choked.”

“Lance, what the fuck!” Keith hissed caught between trying not to laugh and genuine astonishment that the omega was talking about this two tables away from a family of five eating their mall-food-court lunch.

Lance leaned forward farther, getting into Keith’s personal space. “I also think it’s hot when I call my male clients ‘daddy’.”

Keith snorted before breaking into a laugh, “Are you serious?”

“Oh I’m dead serious.” Lance exclaimed, flopping back into his seat. “So spill the beans. What are you into?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Keith said, expression slowly faded into a more serious, almost melancholy one.

“Alright, I won’t push. But if anything interests you, let me know, okay? We can always try it out.” Lance say, gently reaching across the table to touch Keith’s hand. “I am here to serve you any way that I can.”

Keith grunted at that, and retracted from Lance’s touch. “When can we meet again?”

“That depends…When do you need me?” Lance asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“The sooner the better.” Keith said.

Lance quickly thumbed through his phone to look at his schedule. He only had a five and a half hour shift Thursday, and was off work Friday. That could work. “How does Thursday to Friday sound?”

“I’ll be coming off a long shift at the station,” Keith started, “But that will work. Two days though?”

“Oh sorry, I always just assume-…Do you want me to stay the night?” Lance asked.

Keith’s eyebrows knit together as he seemed to contemplate his options. “I-…I guess that’d be okay. I mean, I want to spend as much time together as possible.”

“Oh? Well then, why don’t you give me a time and place Thursday and we’ll spend as much time together as possible.” Lance purred, this is exactly the kind of client he likes. Long haulers. They always came with promises of two things, a good time, and free dinner and breakfast!

“I’ll text you my address. Would 7pm work for you?”

Lance smiled, touching Keith’s hand again. “You need me? I’ll be there.”

Keith let the touch linger this time before clearing his throat and standing up. “I’ll see you then, I guess.”

“I look forward to it, Keith.”

The alpha nodded darting off in the direction he had come, hands shoved in his pants pockets, and Lance watched him go. Smiling to himself when he saw Keith cast a few glances over his shoulder and back to him. He was cute. Ridiculously cute. That could be dangerous. Rule number one of being an Omega for Hire, don’t get crushes on clients, no matter how sweet or cute or how good of a lay they are. He shook his head and laughed to himself, before going on his way, surprised that Keith texted him his address before even got to his car.

Oh yeah. He was going to like this one. He could tell. And that was dangerous.


	2. Do You Come with a Receipt?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A misunderstanding.

Lance shifted from foot to foot, standing on a dirty welcome mat, staring at the letters “Kogane” on the name plate, which looked out of place on the beat-up apartment door. He wasn’t sure if he should knock, or ring the bell. So he took to texting Keith furiously.

/ _Hey, I’m here. Knock knock!_ / Lance texted, glancing up at Keith’s neighbor from two doors down, who eyed the young omega. Lance gave a bashful little wave of acknowledgement, and the older man gave him a small nod before heading off into the night. Where a man in his 50’s was going at 7pm on a Thursday was a question Lance didn’t want the answer to.

Lance heard a rustling from within the apartment, before the door wretched open. Keith stood before him in all of his shirtless glory, beads of water trailing down his rather impress abdominal muscles, a towel draped around his shoulders, one hand using it to squeeze more water out of his long, black hair. He half smiled and stepped aside to let Lance in.

“Hello, handsome.” Lance greeted giving him an unabashed up-and-down, passing him and looking around almost immediately. There was something about other people’s living spaces that fascinated Lance to no end. It was chilly, air conditioning blasting in the heat of the summer evening and ceiling fans turned on high, sending a shiver up Lance’s spine. A thick, fleece blanket was tossed on the couch as if someone had taken a nap and never folded it up, though it could be because a ginger tabby cat was currently curled up in the center of the blanket as if it belonged nowhere else. There were a few framed movie posters on the walls, mostly sci-fi movies that Lance recognized but hadn’t quite seen. A firefighter jacket was hung from a set of pegs on the wall by the door. Overall it felt comfortable, but not overly lived in like Lance’s own place with its “chaotic organization” and “dragon hoard or knickknacks”.

Keith closed the door and awkwardly stood by the door. “I’m uhhh…I’m glad you’re here.”

“Couldn’t wait to see me?” Lance asked, smiling over at the shy alpha as he made his way over to Keith’s massive DVD collection that spanned four bookcases that framed his flat screen. He really had everything, didn’t he? God, just how many _Saw_ movies were there now? Speaking off going on too long…Was there really **_nine_** seasons of _The Walking Dead_? Personally, Lance felt the show died when Glenn took a Negan swing to the head.

“I guess.” Keith stated, fluffing his hair with the towel one more time before tossing it up the hall

way unceremoniously. “Honestly, I’m anxious to get started.”

Lance perked up, and coyly dropped his overnight bag on the coffee table before striding up to Keith. The alpha took a step back when Lance got too close, so Lance held him there, just inches away from the wall. “Oh? You just wanna get down to business then? I can roll with that.”

“Well…G-Good.”

“So tell me, Keith, what exactly do you plan to do to me?” Lance asked, smiling seductively at the alpha and taking a sultry step forward into Keith’s space, though this time the alpha didn’t retreat. He placed a hand on Keith’s chest and lightly pushed him back against the wall, before sliding his hand up to Keith’s shoulder as he pressed in close to him, chest to chest, his other hand roaming down to Keith’s hip. “Do you want to stuff me full of that fat alpha cock you’re packing until I forget my name? Or do you want me to suck your brains out like your dick’s a straw?”

“What? I-I don’t-…”

Lance tutted, “Don’t be so shy…I saw how you looked at me when we met.” His hand on Keith’s hip moved, teasing towards his inner thigh and roaming just a little too close to the other young man’s crotch. “You’re excited to see me, right?” He accentuates his speech by grabbing Keith through his jeans.

Something’s wrong.

Lance looked down after giving the alpha another gentle, questioning squeeze. He isn’t hard. Like, at all. Not even half chub. That’s not-…The normal response Lance was used to getting. Oh. Oh fuck. Oh fuck! OH FUCK! He went too far! Abort abort abort!

Lance’s eyes shot up to Keith’s face as his hands retracted from Keith as though he had been shocked. Keith’s face was beat red, expression unreadable. Before Lance could open his mouth to speak, Keith was shoving him away, unable to meet the omega’s gaze. It didn’t make sense, Lance had thought Keith was attracted to him. He was so sure he'd bet money on it, in fact.

“Get out.”

“What?”

“Get out!” Keith said a little louder. “This was a mistake.”

Lance took a step towards Keith, the seductive omega act dropped completely, replaced with genuine concern. There was something the alpha wasn’t communicating with him, and he wanted to know what that storm was swirling behind Keith’s eyes, “Keith, I’m so sor-...”

Keith growled, grabbing the door handle and yanking it open. “I said get out!” He yelled.

Lance recoiled, hesitating before quickly grabbing his bag and heading towards the door. He stopped in the door way to say something, but Keith wouldn’t look at him. “Keith, I’m sorry-…”

“Good bye, Lance!” He growled out.

“I shouldn’t have done that.” Lance muttered in response, honestly feeling more than a little confused and upset at getting the cold shoulder, but something was off here, and he wasn’t about to press it and piss the alpha off more than he already was, though.

Lance rushed to his car, hoping that Keith’s neighbors weren’t staring at him, and was crushed to find the man he had regarded earlier was out in the parking lot, giving him a knowing look before Lance got in his car and sped off for home.

-

 

As Lance lay awake that night, he mulled over every possibility for Keith’s reaction. Lance figured he had overstepped his boundaries. Perhaps Keith didn’t enjoy being grabbed, or touched. Lance had a few clients that were like that. One was an ex abuse victim, a sweet and caring alpha who needed Lance to make him feel powerful, while healing his emotional wounds. The poor guy had been raped, and needed a soft omega who could make him feel safe. The other was this woman with a queen complex, very nice, but liked to watch Lance touch himself instead of touching her. It was weird, but not unwelcome. Both clients had their boundaries, and Lance assumed Keith was like them, even though Keith said he wanted to get started.

Lance guilty admitted to himself that he jumped the gun on this one and may or may not have been thinking with his own dick. Still, it bothered Lance to no end that Keith didn’t respond to his touch. He liked to believe he could get anyone horny, being the absolute specimen that he was. Not many male omegas were built like him. Long legs, a slight flair to his hips, but a broad back and shoulders. Not to mention he was all lean muscle, with the only fat on his body being in his ass and thighs. Sure he wished his butt was a little bigger, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Lance sighed, and took out his phone.  He felt bad that Keith paid his service charge for two days and got nothing out of it. It didn’t feel right, taking money from someone and not giving anything in return. Felt too much like theft for Lance to really stomach. Before he could think better of it, he rolled over, snatched his phone from his nightstand, and quickly he shot Keith a text.

/ _Hey man, I know you probably don’t want to hear fro_ _m me right now, but I assaulted you, so I’m going to refund you your money. Okay?_ _I feel awful about what happened, and I can’t just take your money after that._ / He held his breath, and slowly twenty minutes slipped by. He told himself he didn’t need a response. He was fine with being ignored. Yup. Totally fine with it.

His phone pinged, and he scrambled to check it.

/ _You don’t have to do that._ / Keith replied.

/ _I’m so sorry, Keith. Are you okay? I overstepped boundaries, and I’m sorry. You probably don’t want to, but you can talk to me about it if you want… I won’t judge you, I promise._ / He typed back.

/ _I’m fine, but thanks Lance._ / Keith responded, before quickly adding. / _I’m sorry for blowing up on you earlier. You didn’t assault me. I just didn’t communicate well and I panicked._ /

/ _It’s okay. You had every right to be angry. I didn’t talk to you and set up boundaries first. This one’s on me._ / Lance texted. / _Hey, speaking of things being on me…If you’re really not wanting a refund, maybe I can repay you? Like maybe we can have a do-over? Free of charge, obvi._ / Lance dropped in a blue heart emoji for emphasis.

/ _I don’t know…_ /

/ _You must have had a reason for hiring me. I want to help you in any way that I can. So…what do you say?_ / Lance held his breath, hoping that maybe this would convince Keith into letting him try again.

/ _Okay. Tomorrow?_ / Keith asked.

/ _I’ll be there at 10._ / Lance responded very quickly, and with maybe way too many blue heart emojis, but to be fair, he couldn’t help but rejoice in getting to see Keith again. To set things right with him. He loved second chances. And he swore he would do right by Keith.

His phone pinged once more. / _In the morning???_ / Keith asked. Lance laughed.

/ _Gotta make up for lost time, don’t we?_ / Lance asked before setting his phone down and easily falling asleep with the promise of tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise these chapters will get longer. Eventually.


	3. Repurchase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets a second chance to gain Keith's trust, and shares a part of himself.

Lance sat down on Keith’s couch, and bounced slightly when he realized how plush it actually was. He cleared his throat once Keith sat down on the opposite end as him, leaving significant space between them, he noted.

 

“So…I think we should start with what happened yesterday…You uh…You reacted very violently when I grabbed you. What was that about?” Lance said, trying to get straight to the point.

 

“I’m not ready to talk about that.” Keith sighed.

 

“Ooookay…” Lance said, eyebrows knitting together.

 

The room fell into silence. Lance frowned, flopping back against the couch as he crossed his arms and thought about the situation, question after question burning in his gut. He glanced over at Keith at some point and noticed the alpha was staring at him. Caught of guard, Lance felt his cheeks warm. Quickly, he thought of another question that pecked at his brain on the way over that morning.

 

“Uhhhh…Hey, I was wondering something…” Lance started, breaking eye contact to stare into the illustrated eyes of a young Harrison Ford. “Why uhh…Why did you hire me?”

 

“I’m not ready to talk about that yet, either.”

 

“Keith, if you want this to work, you’re going to have to tell me something.” Lance said, voice only slightly annoyed, before sliding down the couch to get closer to the alpha, into his space. “You need to communicate with me if you want me to help you. What happened yesterday was partly your fault too, for not communicating what your expectations were, remember?”

 

Keith looked Lance up and down before heaving a sigh, looking Lance in the eyes and slowly saying, “I just-...want spend time with you. I can’t explain it yet, but I hired you because I wanted a single, unmated omega to hang out with and be close to.”

 

“That’s all?” Lance asked, not buying that it was that simple. Keith was definitely cool and handsome enough to have a flock of potential mates at his door. Sure, he didn't exactly scream "pack material", but he _surely_ had friends. Not one fit that description? It just didn't add up to Lance, not that he would push the subject, he just knew a lie when he heard one, and made a mental note to pay close attention to the people Keith mentioned in his life should the subject come up for now.

 

Keith nodded.

 

Lance slowly bridged the gap between them and placed his hand on Keith’s. “I can do that for you. You just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it, okay?”

 

“Okay.” Keith flushed, hand jolting, clearly not use to casual touches, but not shying away from them either.

 

“What would you like to do today, Keith?” Lance asked softly, lacing their fingers together and giving Keith’s hand a squeeze.

 

“Can we-…Watch movies?” Keith asked, his voice cracking as he looked away, embarrassed by the request.

 

Lance smiled, “Of course! I love movies.”

 

Keith seemed to relax at that, giving Lance’s hand a small squeeze back before getting up to mull over his DVD collection. “You got any favorites?”

 

“Marvel movies for sure, Disney, cheesy romcoms. I have simple tastes.” Lance declared, leaning back against the couch again, trying hard to look cool.

 

“Your tastes suck.” Keith scoffed, he eventually selected a boxset from one of the higher shelves, taking the first disk out, and tossing the box onto the coffee table.

 

Lance snatched it up immediately, rolling it over to stare at the cover art of an egg and green lettering. “The _Alien_ saga? Isn’t that with that one actress everyone wants to bone even though she’s like…50? They referenced her in _Deadpool_ …Starts with an S?”

 

“Sigourney Weaver, and she’s like 68, Lance.” Keith almost laughed as he popped it into his Xbox before coming over to the couch and sitting near Lance. “I mean, you’re not wrong about everyone finding her attractive…But how do you not know her name? These are classic sci-fi movies! Plus she’s in like a dozen other classic movies in general.”

 

Lance shrugged, gently placing the boxset back on the coffee table before flopping into Keith’s side. “Maybe because I’m not a giant nerd who sucks dick for sci-fi movies. Ever think about that one?”

 

“So you’ve never seen these movies?” Keith asked, choosing to ignore Lance's vulgar jab.

 

“Nope. Guess that means you get to pop my _Alien_ cherry.” Lance purred, wiggling slightly in a teasing way.

 

Keith groaned, “That’s wrong on so many levels.”

 

Lance grabbed Keith’s arm and wrapped it around his waist, all so he could rest his head on the alpha’s shoulder. He gently brushed his fingers along Keith’s arm in a soothing motion when he realized how rigid Keith was. During the previews, he tried to turn his head to catch a whiff of Keith’s scent to see if he could detect Keith's emotions. It wasn’t very strong, but when he could find it, Lance liked what he smelled. Oaky, and warm. He couldn't decipher any emotion from it with it being so weak, but still...It was worth the shot.

 

“Fair warning,” Lance began as the previews wrapped up and the DVD menu burst forth onto the screen. “I talk a LOT during movies.”

 

“That’s okay. This series is my favorite, so I've seen it hundreds of times.”

 

And talk during most of the movie Lance did. It was really hard for him to stay quiet, once he found out this was Keith’s favorite movie, and was basically the epitome of science fiction movies.

 

“So Sigourney Weaver’s character is Ripley, and the director’s name is Ridley?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“That’s kind of lazy.”

 

“Pfff no it’s not. It’s clever.”

 

“Naming a character after yourself isn’t clever, Keith. It’s called being lazy. What kind of dude jacks himself so hard that he names a fictional character after himself instead of being original?”

 

Keith sputtered with a laugh, "You'll really just say anything, won't you?"

 

"I'm serious! I read a book series once where the author and the main character shared the same first name, and the entire time I couldn't help but think of it as some sort of self-insert thing for him. It was sort of creepy..."

 

"Lance, I know you warned me, but could you at least talk about the movie and not some book?"

 

"Fine. But I'm not going to be able to take Ripley seriously without imagining her as a self-insert for Ridley Scott." Lance huffed.

 

"Wait-...You know the name of the ** _director_** of _Alien_ , but not the name of the actress in the _**leading role**_?" Keith asked credulously.

 

Lance shrugged, "Okay, so I might know a little bit more about these movies than I let on. My friend, Pidge, doesn't shut up about them. They just haven't gotten around to forcing me to watch them."

 

The movie was pretty boring so far, but they were getting to the part where the team was discovering an alien planet.

 

"Oh! Oh! I recognize this!" Lance whispered excitedly, giving Keith's arm a light slap in his hype. "This is it, right? They discover alien eggs! Shit's about to get good!"

 

"If by good, you mean ""Totally fucked."" then yeah." Keith said with a hiss of barely contained laughter at Lance's anticipation for the horror that was to come.

 

The characters in the movie quickly discovered a chamber full of eggs from there. One opened suddenly.

 

Lance gasped audibly, "Oooo! He better not touch that!"

 

Suddenly, Lance understood every face-hugger joke he had ever heard. Still didn’t explain the weird porn he occasionally found on the internet of them hugging _other_ areas of human anatomy, but then again, he assumed it had to do with eggs being like knots, which…Didn’t sound awful? But it was still weird and a bit unnerving.

 

"Well...That uhh...Explains all of the weird internet porn I've seen." Lance croaked in astonishment as a little Xenomorph baby burst from the chest of one of the characters.

 

“If it makes you feel any better, most of the cast didn't know about the chest-burster, so that fear on their face is pretty genuine.” Keith said, gently rubbing Lance’s arm. Lance realized he was shivering, and attributed it from the blasting AC.

 

“Jesus, it’s cold in here! Aren’t you cold?” Lance asked, taking to rubbing his own arms that were pricked with goosebumps which definitely weren't because of an alien embryo forcing it's way out of a man's chest in the most painful looking birth ever.

 

Keith looked at himself, dressed in the same sweatpants from yesterday, and a hoodie for some band Lance didn’t recognize. “Not really.”

 

Lance looked at the arm chair and saw the red tabby sleeping on the blanket again. He got up and gently pulled the fleece blanket out from under Keith’s sleeping cat, who literally could not be bothered to actually move, and had to physically be pushed off the blanket with Lance’s foot. Once he was victorious with his extraction, Lance wrapped the blanket around him and Keith and returned to his cuddling position.

 

Before he could settle completely though, his attention got caught on Keith’s face. His features oddly soft, besides a sharp jawline, framed by his long, flippity hair. He had no business looking so pretty. Keith’s eyes flitted between him and the screen.

 

“What are you looking at?” Keith asked.

 

Lance smiled warmly, no where close to embarrassed that he had been caught admiring Keith's features. “Just you.”

 

Keith flushed. Lance settled back in to finish the movie. Keith’s hand immediately coming up to pet the soft waves of Lance’s hair at the base of his neck. The intimate treatment caused Lance to practically purr. He sought out Keith’s warm scent, pressing his nose into Keith’s scent gland, and was a little confused when the scent didn’t get any stronger with proximity. Slightly annoyed, he rubbed his cheek against it, covering it with his own scent, hoping Keith’s scent would react in turn. Unfortunately, before Lance could tell if he got more of Keith’s wonderful scent to leak out, Keith’s hands retreated from his hair as he gasped in shock.

 

Lance backed off immediately, giving Keith his space and not wanting a repeat of yesterday. He tried to gauge how Keith was feeling. “I’m sorry, was that-…Too much?”

 

“N-No.” Keith said, hand moving to cover his neck. “I just...Haven’t felt anything like that in a long time.” He looked almost breathless, he slowly retracted his hand, and Lance could smell it, their tangled scent poured like water between Keith’s fingers, though it was still rather faint, and nearly overpowered by Lance’s scent, Keith’s was reacting to his, if only just a little bit.

 

“Your scent is pretty weak. Is that one of the problems you’re having that you want me to help with?” Lance asked.

 

He nodded. “It is. I haven’t been with an omega or anyone in a long time…Years. So it’s a little…shocking. Being scented. I forgot how nice it is.”

 

“May I?” Lance gestured to Keith's neck. Keith nodded again, before Lance practically pounced and buried his nose back into the crook of Keith’s neck, humming in satisfaction that he could find the epicenter a bit quicker this time. He nuzzled into Keith’s surprisingly soft skin, before gently grazing teeth over the sensitive area. Keith gasped loudly, breathing stuttered, and hands coming to rest on Lance’s broad shoulders. Lance pressed a kiss to the gland before softly whispering, “Let me know if it becomes too much, okay?”

 

“Okay…” Keith muttered. Lance bit a little harder, lightly sucking on the gland to stimulate it, before rubbing his own scent over it. The harder he bit, the more Keith reacted. One hand tangled into his hair, blunt nails scratching at his scalp. “Lance…” He groaned.

 

“Do you need me to stop?” Lance asked against his skin, trying to control his excitement at getting a reaction from the alpha.

 

The other male nodded, and Lance backed off. His face was beet red, and he looked a little disheveled. Lance smiled at him as Keith’s fingers traced the now swollen patch of skin on the left side of his neck.

 

“Could-…Could you do the other side? Please, Lance.”

 

“Of course.” Lance said, stopping Keith before the alpha could turn his body, and instead climbed into his lap, guiding Keith’s hands to sit on his hips. He gazed into Keith's longing eyes and gave him a cocky smirk, before cupping Keith's chin in one hand and tilting his jaw up slightly to get a good view of Keith's neck. His eyes flit from the pale expanse to Keith's violet eyes, to his soft, inviting lips that were parted by Keith's soft panting. "May I kiss you first?"

 

Keith nodded, eyes pleading. This is what Keith needed, Lance decided. Physical intimacy. He dove in immediately, lips mashed against lips firmly. It wasn’t necessarily the greatest kiss in the world, but Lance would be lying if he didn’t say it got him more than a little excited. It took a few minutes of making out for Keith to seem to calm down from heavy scenting to his left side.  The alpha had mentioned being rusty and Lance had noticed Keith seemed a bit touch-starved, but once Keith’s tongue was licking softly at his lips, Lance knew Keith was getting back into the swing of things, adjusting quickly.

 

Ever so slowly, Lance broke off from Keith’s mouth, dipping towards Keith’s right, kissing his way along Keith’s cheek to his jaw, then down his neck, earning an appreciative noise. Keith tilted his head to allow Lance access. Keith’s hands roamed Lance’s sides, hips, and thighs, never settling in one spot for too long, as if mapping out his body. It was honestly pretty hot.

 

Lance started the assault on Keith’s other scent gland. He lapped at it, finding it to be responding faster than the first. Teasingly he grazed his teeth over it until he felt one of Keith’s hands give his ass a nice squeeze, then he bit down harshly, only just threatening a temporary bond as he sucked at the flesh between his teeth, determined to leave a hickey on the alpha. That earned a down right **_moan_** from deep within Keith’s chest, and Lance couldn’t help suppress a gentle laugh into Keith’s skin. Keith’s scent was nowhere near as strong as most other alphas, but it was definitely stronger than what it had been, mingling with Lance’s and gaining strength from it.

 

When Lance was satisfied with Keith’s scent, he sighed happily, finally breaking away to kiss Keith once more, breaking it just after a fleeting moment.

 

“How was that?” He asked, confidence and pride swelling in his chest.

 

“Amazing. It felt amazing.” Keith admitted, breathlessly. His arms tightened at Lance’s waist, holding the omega in place as his eyes wandered down to Lance’s neck. For a moment, Lance wondered what Keith was thinking about. The moment dragging out long enough for Sigourney Weaver’s yelling to come flooding back to his ears, reminding him that hey…He was missing Keith’s favorite movie.

 

Lance shifted in Keith’s lap, glancing over his shoulder at the TV before looking back to Keith, who was still staring intently at his neck. It finally dawned on him what the alpha was thinking. “Do you wanna scent me?”

 

“No. No more…” Keith said, though his voice was strained. “I can’t…”

 

Lance nodded, gently brushing his thumb under Keith’s jaw. “Hey, listen to me…We aren’t going to do anything you do not want to do. Okay?”

 

"I’m sorry.” Keith whispered, not meeting his gaze.

 

“Don’t be.” Lance insisted. “This is about what you’re comfortable with.”

 

“It’s not that…”

 

“Then what is it?” Lance asked softly, dipping his head to catch Keith’s eye contact.

 

Keith leaned back, distancing himself from the omega but keeping his hands on Lance’s hips, “Three years ago…I would have had zero issue picking you up by that gorgeous ass of yours and fucking you against a wall.”

 

“Sounds like a nice date night.” Lance chuckled, but bit his lip when he saw Keith glare at the joke. “Anyways, continue.”

 

“ _Anyways,_ I wish I could do that, but I can’t.” Keith finished with an annoyed huff.

 

Lance shifted in Keith’s lap so he could fully seat himself in it, but not daring to break their contact, least Keith throw those defensive walls up again. “Do you want to talk about it?”

 

Keith shook his head, his bangs hiding his eyes. They were back tracking fast. Lance thought for a moment. He needed to reestablish trust in their relationship if he ever hoped to get Keith to open up. A weight settled in Lance's stomach. He knew what he had to do. He had to show Keith he trusted him first. Lance didn't think he would have to pull this story out of his pocket so soon, but he had the sinking feeling Keith didn't trust people easily, and the only way Lance knew of forming personal bonds quickly with people was to share a trauma.

 

“Hey…” Lance whispered, patting Keith’s shoulder. “Let me up, I want to show you something.”

 

Keith let go of him, allowing Lance to stand, blanket slumping to the floor. Lance walked around the coffee table, blocking the TV before posing with his hands on his hips. With Keith’s eyes on him, he took a deep breath.

 

“What I am about to share with you is something I rarely let anyone else see, okay?” Lance said in a rush. “Most of my clients don’t even know about it, except like three, because I don't let just anyone see me without my shirt on.”

 

“Lance, what are you-?”

 

“Nope! Nuh-uh. You have to stop talking right now, or else I’ll chicken out.” Lance could feel the anxiety rising in his chest. Keith’s mouth snapped closed, the alpha sitting up and giving Lance his undivided attention. He took that as a sign to keep going.

 

Lance’s fingers quivered as he reached for the collar of his shirt before wrenching the material up and over his head, not daring to take it off all the way, leaving it stuck on his arms. He took a steadying breath before giving Keith a less than brave smile, “I-…I don’t know what happened to you, but-…I can tell you I will understand.”

 

He turned.

 

Keith gasped, and Lance had to fixate his eyes on the climax of _Alien_ to keep himself from panicking. He could hardly breathe, taking to timing his breath with Ripley’s as she faced down the Xenomorph, and honestly? Lance would rather take her place. This was the most intimate, most shameful part of himself, and he wanted Keith to know he trusted him with this.

 

He heard the couch creak, and felt the tickle of Keith’s warm breath on his neck.

 

“Do…” Keith began, faltering before starting again, his fingers gently touching Lance’s, which clutched at his own arms. “Do you want to talk about it?”

 

Lance huffed a short laugh, fingers lacing with Keith’s before looking over his shoulder at the handsome alpha who was looking at him, rather than the large, gnarly burn scar that spanned across his shoulder blades and most of his upper back. That fact alone made his heart flutter. “Throwing my line back at me, are you?”

 

Keith smirked. “I appreciate you sharing this with me…I want to know what happened.”

 

Lance sighed, and nodded towards the couch, slipping his shirt back on. Keith held his hand and guided him to the couch. Lance settled in next to Keith like before, cuddled into his side, and thankful the alpha’s scent was soft, and unintentionally soothing. It helped to quell Lance’s nerves, knowing if he went back on this now, Keith wouldn’t trust Lance to be open with him. So, when he felt steady enough, he took a deep breath, then began his tale.

 

“When I was seventeen, I went to a high school party. It was some end of the year party, thrown by some senior socialite that I barely knew…But I knew someone who was a part of the “In” crowd. This senior alpha, James. God he was gorgeous…I did everything to try and fit in with the cheerleaders and football team just to get him to look at me. Anyways, he was at the party with his whole crew, and I was invited by proxy. Looking back now, I realize I was invited because he saw me as a friend, but I thought it was because he wanted me there like…Well-…I don’t know! I was being hopeful, I guess. I mean, I didn’t know if he liked omegas, or guys, or what at the time! Anyways, I challenged him and all of his varsity friends to a shot for shot drinking contest. And I’ll have you know, I was more than able to keep up! Years of stealing swigs of my Abuelita’s gin built up my resistance.” Keith made an amused noise, seeming to sense the memory that came flooding back to Lance of him and his brother Marco taking daring sips off his grandmother’s bottle that she kept in her bathroom cupboard. “I was a bit of a slut, honestly. I kept trying to hit James with my pheromones, my best one-liners, and used every excuse I could to show off my ass.”

 

“Why does this sound familiar?” Keith muttered.

 

Lance swatted at his hand lightly, “Excuse me, I am trying to tell a serious story here, Mullet. Stop thinking about my ass for three seconds-”

 

“I’m serious. There was a guy named James Griffin at my high school that was on the varsity team. He was a jackass!” Keith spat out, clearly bitter about some unknown past beef. But that isn’t what Lance was concerned about, he was more concerned about how the fuck Keith knew Lance’s high school crush!

 

“Wait-…Yoooou didn’t happen to go to Garrison Academy…Did you?” Lance asked, turning his body to face Keith.

 

Keith nodded and Lance swore he felt his soul leave his body.

 

“Are you serious?! We went to the same school??” Lance asked in astonishment, frantically gesturing between them. Then he stopped, shrinking in on himself. “Sooo-…wait…Do you-Do you know about the party?”

 

“I was pretty drunk.”  Keith said before chewing on his bottom lip, thinking. “I remember drinking alone by the pool, and thinking about ditching the party to go throw rocks at Griffin’s car when someone came running up, screaming about someone falling into-…”

 

Lance sighed heavily, and nodded. There was no going back now, since Keith was definitely smart enough to put Lance’s giant ass burn scar, and the bonfire from that night together without any other context clues. He felt tears prick at his eyes as a ball of emotion settled in his chest. It was probably the worst night of Lance’s life, if he were being honest. Knowing Keith had been there, witnessing it…It didn’t make the memory any better. It actually somehow made it so much worse. He felt Keith’s hand take his and give it a firm, steadying squeeze.

 

“You don’t have to continue…” Keith started.

 

“No, I want to. I just-…I can’t believe you were there that night…” Lance whispered, crawling back into the safe-zone that was Keith’s side.

 

“It’s a small world when you live in the same city for 23 years.”

 

Lance smirked at that, and the light humor gave him enough encouragement to continue.

 

“Okay sooo…Where were we? James…Oh! So we were going shot for shot! And uhhh… after about 8 shots, I had enough liquid courage built up to ask James out. And keep in mind I had been crushing on him since like…seventh grade, and we were sort of friends? I mean, he’s the one who looked at me and asked if I was going. So I thought he was at least a little interested in me, you know? So I go looking for him, having lost him in the chaos of taking shots with most of GA's football team, and find him by the bonfire where this keg was set up, because you know…Fire and booze go together so well! And what do I see? I see him full on flirting it up his beef-cake friend, Ryan, who had just done a fucking FLAAAAAAAWLESS keg stand! And my drunk ass took that as a challenge, and I loudly declared that I was better than any alpha and was twice as good at hand stands. To be fair, Ryan and James were really sweet, and they tried really hard to get me to sit down and sober up. Especially after I tried to punch Ryan in the face, and tripped over a lawn chair.” Lance monologued, getting a little heated at remembering how he was one-uped in front of his long time crush.

 

Keith scoffed. “Flirting is putting it mildly. I distinctly remember James shoving his tongue down Ryan’s throat more than once at that party.”

 

“ _Anyways_ …” Lance hissed as a warning to keep Keith from interrupting again, least Lance actually finish his story. ”We were by the bonfire, and I stood in front of the fire and loudly declared that I was, hands down, the best and only choice of mate that anyone in our school had ever seen, and I would prove it to EVERYONE by doing a flawless handstand at the edge of the fire. Ryan and James tried to talk me down, but I wiggled free from their grasp, ran up to the fire, and kicked up into a handstand. I held it for a moment, which honestly is really impressive considering I literally couldn’t walk without tripping over my feet, or a lawn chair. Which, in hind sight, explains how shit went south so quick. I loudly asked James, “”Am I good enough for you now?””, and then -.” Lance trailed off, unable to form the words.

For a moment he was transported back to that moment. The sensation of his heart hammering as his consciousness fading before free falling as the world spun into a blur of orange and black as he crumbled into the flames. He could still hear the crackling of the fire, feel its hot claws at his back as if it was happening all over again. Panic clawed at Lance’s stomach, making him withdraw from himself and from Keith.

 

“You passed out, and fell into the fire.” Keith interrupted, causing Lance to jump, but pulling him from the edge of a panic attack. By the grave tone of his voice, he seemed to be remembering the night of the party. “That-…That was you?”

 

Lance nodded stiffly, swallowing the emotion that had leapt from his chest to his throat and left his face feeling hot. “M-Most people were too drunk to react immediately, but I managed to roll out of the handstand like I was trained to do in gymnastics to avoid hitting my head. Can you fucking believe that shit? I could do that, but no one could grab me before I fell in. Most of my body landed on the logs, so I wasn’t burned too badly, but my upper back landed in the coals and stayed there, burning, until Ryan literally jumped into the fire to pull me out almost a full minute later while everyone else started to flee and panic. I had spent the whole night picking fights with the poor guy, and he jumped into a fire to save my life because no one else was going to help the slutty, drunk omega.”

 

Keith’s fingers reached up the back of Lance’s shirt and traced the rough edges of the burn scar causing the sensitive skin to twitch at the soft touch. “Do you-…Remember anything else? Being burned?”

 

“I remember it, but not through sight. I remember the sensation, and being unable to breathe. I remember feeling people pouring cold water onto my back, and I remember hearing someone coach me into breathing, while yelling for people to get water.” Lance whispered.

 

Keith was silent for a minute, before giving a small, grim nod. “That-...Was me.”

 

“What do you remember?” Lance asked, not wanting to really talk anymore, but rather listen.

 

“Up at the house, we all heard the screams of people running away from the fire. Someone came running up in the panic, trying to rally people into getting whatever they could wet with cold water from the coolers to run it down to you as quickly as possible. Someone else was yelling for anyone to call 9-1-1. Most people just ran, knowing that paramedics meant cops. My dad was a firefighter, and had taught me some first-aid, so I ran down to help. James was there, freaking out, and you were just lying there, not really moving as much as seizing. I asked James and Ryan what happened, but James wouldn’t answer me. So after a moment, I just-…Took matters into my hands. I took a look at your back, and could see some areas looked black, and could see your skin peeling off."

 

Lance muttered, squeezing Keith’s hand. “Yeah…It was third degree on my shoulders.”

 

“Jesus…” Keith whispered.

 

“Yeah...” Lance huddled closer to Keith, trying to hide between Keith’s strong arms, resting his head on Keith’s shoulder so he couldn’t look the alpha in the eye. “I was in the burn unit for weeks, but because it was summer vacation, no one really cared. The only people who visited me was my two friends, one of my friend’s brothers, and Ryan. James didn’t even show up. I had first degree burns on the backs of my thighs and ass, so I didn’t have enough unscathed skin to under-go a skin graft to my shoulders. So I ended up with this huge, ugly scar.”

 

Lance felt bitter tears slid down his cheeks, and before he could control himself, he sniffled, gaining Keith’s attention. Keith reached up and gently brushed away Lance’s tears. Well, this certainly back fired. Lance was looking to help Keith feel better, not the other way around. God, he was an idiot.

 

“Who said it was ugly?” Keith growled.

 

Lance whimpered, “Well-…No one, to my face. But James-“

 

“Seriously? Fuck James!” Keith said. “You wanna know why I was even at that stupid party?”

 

Lance nodded, sitting up and wiping at his tears.

 

Keith huffed. “James and I were dating. Secretly, of course. He didn’t want it getting out that the captain of the varsity football team was fucking some artsy, juvenile delinquent, who just so happened to me another male alpha. The last day of school, he broke up with me, because he found out Ryan was into guys, too. So when I heard about the party, I was going to go and get roaring drunk and then punch one of them in the face!”

 

“That’s kind of fucked up, Keith.” Lance chided, but he felt himself starting to smile a little.

 

“Yeah, well we both had shitty tastes in high school I guess.” Keith snorted. “Glad to know that James doesn’t deserve Ryan though.”

 

Lance laughed bit, “Right? I wish I had known Ryan was such a gentleman. Then maybe I would’ve crushed on him instead.”

 

They fell into silence. Both looking into the middle distance as they thought about the past.

 

“Anyways…I had been watching them all night. And honestly? It just-…Made me sad. So I decided to drink instead. They, for the most part, ignored me, probably thanks to you. Then the whole fire thing happened. I was coaching you into breathing through the shock. James asked what he should do, and I told him he has done enough. Ryan told him to go up to the driveway and direct the first responders to us. Ryan and this girl, the one who tried to rally everyone into helping you, kept pouring cold water over your back and legs. Next thing I know, I hear the voice of one of my dad’s old firefighter buddies call out to me. They took over from there. Once they took you away in the ambulance, my dad’s buddy asked me if I knew what I was doing after high school, and told me to come by the station if I ever wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps.” Keith said, gesturing over to the jacket that hung by the door.

 

Lance dabbed at the remnants of tears that still clung to his eyes, “So I’m the reason you’re a firefighter?”

 

“I’d say it’s because of my dad, but you just helped me find that old connection I thought had died with him. You know…My dad had a burn scar, too.” Keith whispered. “I thought it was so cool, growing up. It looked like he had held fire in his fist, like the Human Torch! You know what your scar kind of looks like?” Lance shook his head. “Wings.”

 

Lance scoffed, burying his burning face in Keith’s neck. “Shut up.”

 

“Seriously though, I don’t think you should be ashamed of the scar. It’s honestly pretty badass. You have lived through some shit.” Keith said, rubbing Lance’s back.

 

“Yeah well…I know you’ve lived through some shit, too.” Lance muttered, playfully pawing at Keith’s shoulder, now embarrassed by all of Keith’s praise. “I hope I’ll earn your trust with it, because you sure as hell have mine.”

 

“I appreciate that you trust me with this.” Keith was quiet for a moment before adding, “Next time. I’ll tell you next time, okay? For now, I think we should find another movie to watch.”

 

Lance hummed in appreciation, “Yeah. Not a dog movie though, I’ve had enough crying and soul-pouring today.”

 

“Got any picks?”

 

“ _Aliens_.” Lance shrugged. “Pidge always said it’s better than the first one.”

 

Keith smirked, “Your friend isn’t wrong. The second one is the best one.”

 

“Nerds.” Lance muttered, feeling his heart swell with affection as Keith peeled himself away from the omega to switch movies.

 

Later that evening, after Lance had fallen asleep on Keith’s chest, he jolted awake from a nightmare of fire and burning flesh. Keith’s arm around him tightened its hold, but other than that the alpha didn’t stir. Lance grabbed his phone from the coffee table and after nearly blinding himself with it, groaned when he realized it was two in the morning and far past time for him to go home. He slumped against Keith, not wanting to move, and deciding he was far too comfortable. He squinted at the TV screen, which glowed with the title card to _Alien: Covenant_. Covenant? He distinctly remembered putting in _Prometheus_. How the hell were they on Covenant? He guessed maybe he should turn it off, barely recollecting the premise of either movie and already knowing he’d have to rewatch them, but something about the glow from the TV casting a soft light around the apartment, and Keith’s soft, but present scent made him feel like he would much rather just stay put than go anywhere.

 

 

With Keith's warm hand splayed between his shoulders, heart beat softly drumming under Lance's ear, Lance drifted back to sleep. Content to stay put, and realizing just as he faded into unconsciousness that this maybe wasn't the best idea, and that he was, perhaps, too comfortable too soon with this handsome, soft alpha. But frankly, Lance couldn't be bothered to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you ever find out that your coworker went to high school with your buddy in college, and went to college with your significant other, who worked with the ex fiance of your other buddies from college? Also, you stopped being friends with your buddies in college, because the girl you were dating at the time drove you literally crazy, because she was cheating on her girlfriend, who happens to be friends with your next door neighbor, who ALSO knows your college friends, one of whom happened to be your ex girlfriend's cosplay senpai. Also also, your significant other's ex girlfriend is a part of a witch coven/household that includes someone you went to middle school with.
> 
> No? Just me?
> 
> Well, that's how often I run in to people where I live that know someone I know, but we've never met until XYZ moment, and that exact coincidence got to make an appearance in this fic. So like...Y'all can say it's impossible for Keith and Lance to have been so close to the same people and never officially met one another until now, but it literally happens to me all the time. So fight me.


	4. Baggage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Keith three years ago?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long! I was working two retail jobs during the holiday season and had no time to give it the attention it deserved. Its still far more rushed than I would hope, but I'm anxious to post it and see what you guys think. This chapter was both a pain and really fun to write, because I enjoyed, really writing in all this backstory I've wanted to incorporate for a while. Hopefully it's not too much of an info dump, but also, I info dump all the time. So please assume the info dumping is me, inserting a bit of myself into the story.
> 
> I hope I meet your expectations with this.

_It had to be today_.

Keith glowered at the date on his phone, squinting at the harsh light as his head pounded. He already had several messages from Adam queued up in his notifications, across multiple platforms, reminding him about their “family brunch”. How could he forget, considering Adam had literally marked it on his calendar for him, and put a ton of alarms in his phone for some time when Keith hadn’t been looking. The damn omega was persistent, he’d give him that.

He got ready, feeling his tired eyes glaring at everything, and deciding to ignore his headache. He could always use it as an excuse to skip out of the faux holiday later whenever Adam became too overbearing, or Shiro got all weirdly paternal. Not that he didn’t appreciate what they were trying to do, he really did love them and appreciated all of the effort they tried to put into the anniversary, but it always left Keith feeling exhausted. And he could already tell today was going to be no different.

One short bus ride, and a few block walk later, and he was walking up to Shiro and Adam’s house. The two story house had been quite the find when the two were looking for property to rent. It had a large, two car garage on its left, and sat back far enough from the street that once inside, the noise from the street faded away to nothing. With one large tree in the front, opposite the driveway, and one at the far end of the backyard, the house was more than protected from the summer sun, perfectly shaded by noon, through to the evening, when the back of the house would be bathed in a rich golden glow.

Keith remembered how Shiro was sold the moment he saw the large porch, complete with one of those nice porch swings. Shiro had always wanted one of those. Adam on the other hand, was more sold on the space within the house, but it helped that on each side of the walkway, and wrapping around to the back of the house were well-kept flowerbeds, full of perennial flowers, expertly chosen to guarantee something to be blooming almost year round. It was a little too meticulous for Keith’s tastes. The only thing new that Shiro and Adam had added, was Adam’s white roses on the side of the house between the house and the driveway. At first, just one bush that he tended to obsessively, the two. Today he noticed a third had been added since this time last year.

Speak of the devil…The omega had seen his approach, and was standing in the doorway already, arms folded across his chest.

“You’re late.”

“Bus was late.” Keith yawned, climbing the stairs to the porch before pushing past Adam.

Adam sighed heavily, and closing the door behind him. He followed closely on Keith’s heels as Keith made a b-line for the living room. “We were worried, Keith! You should’ve texted or called us...”

“I’m fifteen fucking minutes late to a Thursday morning brunch, Adam. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” Keith growled, hand wiping at his face and eyes before he flopped into the armchair.

“I am going to ignore what you just said for your sake, and chalk that up to you being tired.” Adam said through gritted teeth, flicking the young alpha on the ear before going into the kitchen, probably to finish cooking their brunch. “You better at least pretend you’re happy to be here in front of Takashi, or so help me…”

“You two fight again this morning?” Keith asked, knowing the right blow to wound the stuck-up omega’s pride.

The silence that followed was deafening. The house was so still, so quiet that Keith could distinctly hear the soft shuffling of someone in the master bathroom. Shiro had probably taken a cold shower to cool down if the two truly had fought that morning.

Keith almost immediately felt guilt clawing at his empty stomach. He knew Adam was trying…Trying to make the best of things. And Keith knew why. Their annual family gathering, it was all for Shiro. It was no secret Adam hated this faux holiday as much as Keith, but to Adam’s defense, when it came down to what Shiro truly needed, he couldn’t deny him. Keith felt his mouth go dry and hid his face in his hands. Guilt reminding him that Adam use to be a very pleasant person, and that he used to love the omega like a brother, but in the past three years, frustration had turned their relationship bitter, and Keith couldn’t help but feel it was all his fault. Just like he felt it was his fault for the strife in Adam and Shiro’s relationship.

Keith heard a small sound from the kitchen, and recognized it as Adam stifling a sob. He got up slowly and approached the archway into the kitchen, catching the older man furiously wiping at his eyes before pushing his glasses back onto his nose.

“Adam?” Keith asked softly. “I-…I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Shiro’s voice caused Keith to nearly leap out of his skin.

Adam didn’t turn around, pretending to be invested in his cooking, but didn’t hesitate to pipe up, “For being late and not texting us. He had me worried.” Keith was shocked there was no telling warble to Adam’s voice, and that even after all these years, he was willing to cover for Keith and forgive his short temper, and not so tasteful quips.

Shiro glanced between Keith and Adam before crossing the kitchen. He approached the omega cautiously, before gently rubbing the back of his index finger on the back of Adam’s arm. The shorter male leaned into the touch, wordlessly telling Shiro that the touch was welcomed. Shiro stepped into Adam’s space, arms looping around Adam’s waist as his nose pressed to Adam’s scent gland at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Keith recognized it as their way of apologizing to one another, particularly Shiro’s way of accepting responsibility for their argument. He’d seen it many times, even from before.

Keith stepped away, allowing them to have their moment. He heard a few whispers shared between them, Shiro asking Adam what was really bothering him, and Adam whispering a response before Shiro emerged. He gave Keith the up and down, a knowing look flashing across his face, before deciding better of it and letting it go.

With a sigh, Shiro said, “Next time, just shoot us one text. Please.”

Keith lowered his gaze, “Okay.”

“You hungry?” Shiro asked, changing the subject, once he was satisfied with that response.

Keith shrugged. Honestly? He wasn’t. The sickeningly sweet scent of maple syrup and buttermilk pancakes was choking him, and he already felt its weight in his stomach which made him rather nauseous, but he couldn’t tell them that. Not without starting another fight.

“I could eat.”

They settled into their meal, Keith mostly just pushing the food around the plate with his fork rather than digging in the same way Shiro was, only occasionally popping pieces of pancake into his mouth, which practically melted on contact with his tongue. Had the overwhelming scent of sticky-sweet syrup and Keith’s headache hadn’t been a factor, he would probably be in heaven. Still, Keith was content to simply snack on the brunch, enjoying the quiet of their late morning meal as a family. Unfortunately…Keith forgot who it was exactly who he called his family.

Adam cleared his throat, disturbing the pleasant peace, “So, Keith…How are your headaches? You went to the doctor’s last week, correct? What did he have to say?”

“Adam.” Shiro hissed in a warning, fork slamming against his plate to gain the omega’s attention.

Keith sighed heavily, feeling his minuscule appetite leave him as his anger started to rise, all ready a hair-trigger away from firing off due to the dull throb he felt in his head. “What do you want to hear exactly, Adam? That my headaches are gone, and the doctor discovered I’ve completely recovered? Because I haven’t.”

“I just-…I want to know how you were doing.”

Shiro shot Adam a disapproving look, and Keith got the sneaking suspicion that their argument from this morning had been over this. Shiro had always been someone who would allow people the time to approach him with issues, while Adam had always been someone who would always take the initiative and confront an issue head on, even if it hurt or upset people. That was one thing the pair always disagreed on.

“Oh I’m fucking great. “ Keith growled, stabbing at the pancakes now with his fork. “Just peachy.”

Shiro cleared his throat. “Well…That’s great to hear. Anyways, I heard about that five-alarm fire last week. I was meaning to ask you about it. Were you on duty at the time?”

“I was.”

“Thought so.” Shiro hummed between bites. “They send you in this time, or were you holding the hose?”

Keith let out a softer sigh, physically unable to stay angry at Shiro when he was asking about work, “No…They wouldn’t let me go in. They said my instincts are still too dull to trust in an inferno. But I was a part of the investigation team.”

“Well, it sounds like they trust that you’ll get better.” Adam interjected, earning a glare from Keith.

“Uh-huh.”

“Speaking of getting better-…” Adam began, Shiro softly hissed out Adam’s name as a warning, but Adam wouldn’t have any of it. “I was thinking…With the weather being nice, we could go for a ride later. What do you say?”

“Adam!” Shiro squeaked before lowering his voice. “What did we talk about this morning?”

“Oh come on, Takashi! It’s been three years now! How long are we going to keep letting Keith take the damn bus, and avoiding something that he used to love?!” Adam said loudly, gesturing at Keith and wrenching his hand from Shiro’s hold.

“I told you not to bring it up! He’ll get back out there when he is ready! He isn’t ready! So stop trying to force it!” Shiro seethed, just barely holding back from yelling.

“So what?! We’re supposed to just sit here while he wallows in self-pity instead of doing something to change?!” Adam countered, voice raising into a yell.

Shiro growled, “Yes! He’s a grown man! Let him make his own choices!”

“Will both of you just shut up?!” Keith yelled, slamming his hands on the table, causing a cup to spill, though no one moved to clean it up. Keith breathed heavily, looking between the two older men, who looked up at him with bewildered eyes. “Neither of you know what I need or want! Let alone how I feel!”

“Keith, I know how you feel-…” Adam began, trying to reach for one of Keith’s hands.

“Oh, you’re right! You would know **_exactly_** how I feel, wouldn’t you?! We are both **_broken_** after all!” Keith asked, unable to hide the venom in his voice.

Shiro physically bristled at that, mouth snapping open to yell, to scream at Keith. Probably to leave, but Adam interrupted. With his back straight, voice calm, his eyes met Keith’s with an air of defiance to them.

“Yes, I **_do_** know exactly how you feel. I know how it feels to feel broken, and like you’ll never fix what’s wrong with you. But unlike you, I have been doing **_everything_** within my power to change. Have you?” Adam said calmly, glare sending a chill up Keith’s spine. It was one of those rare glares people give you that tell you they have nothing left to lose, and in that moment, Keith believed it. “No…You’re too busy wallowing in self-pity to even notice what’s going on in your brother’s life, in my life. Have you ever thought that maybe that’s why you haven’t improved? Because you’d rather hole up in your apartment, with your movie collection, hating everyone and the world for what it’s done to you, instead of **_doing something_** to change? When are you going to grow up and take control of your life, Keith?”

Keith was speechless. He looked between Adam and Shiro, who he was expecting to be glaring at him or shooting him the most disappointed look her could muster, but Shiro couldn’t even look at him. Somehow that hurt worse than the tongue lashing from Adam. Keith straightened his back, clinging to what pride he had left and muttered a warbled, “Fuck. You.”

He stomped through the living room and out the front door, slamming it so hard thought he heard the glass pane on the door shatter behind him, not that he could care less. He walked down the driveway. He quickly walked one block. Then another. Then another. They began to blur together as his pace sped up. Soon he was running as fast as his legs could carry him.

More than once did he almost dart in front of a car, lucky that each street he passed had a stop sign, and vigilant drivers use to neighborhood children throwing caution to the wind. He kept running past the burn in his lungs, a stitch in his side. He kept running until he felt the summer heat burning through the soles of his shoes, making his feet feel entirely too hot. The bit of brunch he had eaten forced its way to the back of his throat for bitter revenge. Keith doubled over and retched loudly into a near-by bush, everything he had eaten making an unwelcome reappearance.

Keith groaned as his head throbbed harshly, wiping the bile and saliva that clung to his chin with the back of his hand. Okay. Maybe running the anger off in the middle of the August heat wasn’t such a good idea. God he needed to sit down! He looked up, panting heavily and squinting in the sun and heat haze as he looked around. He had to have been several miles away from Shiro and Adam’s by now. He glanced up the next few blocks of road and spotted the familiar sign of a park that Keith knew all too well.

Of. Fucking. Course.

Of all the days…Of all the places he could’ve ran too…He ran **_here_**.

Beggars not being choosers, Keith trudged up the sidewalk, and into the park, raising his arms above his head to try and stretch out his ribs, and to help him catch his breath in the unbearably thick air. He passed a pavilion with a water spigot, and practically lunged for the hose hook-up. He drank greedily from the warm, clean water that poured from the spigot, using it to rinse his mouth, face, and hand that had gotten smeared with puke. He closed the tap, and took a deep breath, finally catching his breath. He glanced around the large park, noticing it was fairly empty, given that it had to have been at least 98 degrees outside and it was only 11:30 in the morning, and given that there was no cloud in sight, it was only going to get hotter. From here, he could see the road that ran along the park’s northern perimeter, and all three intersections that lay along it. His eyes caught on the middle one. He had almost a perfect view of it from here.

Before Keith knew it, he was perched on top of one of the heavy, plastic mesh, picnic tables under the pavilion, staring at the interaction, watching the traffic as it passed, the three-way stop being a popular junction in the neighborhood, and thusly seeing a lot of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian passing through. He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there in the shade of the pavilion watching, but he knew the quiet park had progressively grown livelier with the laughter of small children on the playground equipment to his left, and the shouts of some people playing soccer.

A young woman playing soccer reminded Keith of Lance. With all the drama of the morning, Keith had almost forgotten about their appointment that was scheduled for later that night. God. How was Keith supposed to tell Lance about all this? It seemed like anyone who got too close to this whole situation ended up unhappy. Keith was pretty sure Shiro was going prematurely grey from it, and he was also pretty sure Shiro would never talk to him again for the way he had treated Adam earlier. Sure, the two weren’t exactly happy together, but they were still fiercely loyal to one another, and to hurt one was to hurt the other.

With a sigh, Keith tried to devise ways to avoid telling Lance about all this drama, all this pain, and just enjoy his time with the omega as he had last week. That’s what Keith really wanted right now.

Deep in thought, Keith didn’t notice he was no longer alone under the picnic pavilion.

“May I join you?”

Keith felt his heart lurch into his throat. He wiped around to see Adam standing just inside of the pavilion, expression unreadable. Keith nodded stiffly, before turning back to watch the intersection. He felt the picnic table shift with Adam’s weight as the omega climbed up next to him. Silence clung between them for some time. At least five cycles of the traffic lights passed before Adam even tried to speak, his voice ragged.

“Well that was a disaster…”

Keith glanced over at Adam. His hazel eyes were red and puffy, a clear indication that he had been crying. Keith felt his cheeks flush with guilt, eyes fixated back on the road. “It always is.”

Adam let out a soft laugh, “Yeah? Well, even though it was a disaster, you can expect Takashi will want us to do it all over again next year.”

“What if I don’t want to? What if I hate this whole damn tradition and everything it stands for?” Keith asked.

“I’ll admit, Takashi and I never thought about your feelings regarding our uh-…Annual get together…But have you ever considered our feelings about it?”

That earned him a look from Keith, who was now trying to study Adam’s face for any hint at what the omega was getting at, but the omega was now also staring at the road before them.

“We were all together that night, remember? I wasn’t feeling well, so you went to leave instead of staying late like normal. We didn’t-…We didn’t even bother to see you out. We just let you walk out that door and then-…We almost lost you.” Adam muttered, not able to maintain eye contact anymore. “If I hadn’t made such a big deal over feeling sick…If we had just taken the time to say goodbye…To hug you and tell you we love you or to drive safe-…Well, who knows?”

“Adam, you can’t think like that…” Keith whispered.

“But we do! Takashi and I both feel so guilty for what happened that night. You-…You’re not just his little brother, you’re mine as well, and we couldn’t be bothered to give you two minutes…Two minutes that could’ve prevented all of this! We blame ourselves as much as that drunk driver…”

Keith tore his eyes away from his brother’s fiancé, and looked at the intersection ahead of them. The one where it happened. His mouth felt dry, and a lump of emotion had formed in his throat again.

“You guys had no way of knowing what would happen…” Keith said, voice strained. “I didn’t even know what was happening! One minute, there’s no one on the road, and the next, I’m blinded by headlights! Then I’m flying through the air!”

Adam gently took Keith’s hand, squeezing it hard. “When Takashi got the call, I thought he was going to throw up. We could hear the sirens all the way at the house. He was shaking like a leaf when he came to get me from the bedroom. He didn’t know what to do, so I drove us here…You-…You weren’t breathing when they loaded you up in the ambulance. Takashi went with you, I stayed behind to give a statement to police, and to notify police that we would absolutely be pressing charges against the guy that hit you.”

“Was it bad?” Keith asked. Shiro refused to talk about that night, and only told him the bare minimum about Keith getting hit. Anytime Keith asked about it, Shiro always changed the subject.

Adam nodded. “It could’ve been so much worse, though…You could’ve been pinned between one of the trees, or the park bench he took out. Your motorcycle was practically obliterated. But there you were…Miraculously in one piece, only missing a shoe, and laying in the softest looking grass…I’ll never forget how soft the grass looked. Of course, we had no way of knowing how badly you were hurt until you got the ER.”

“Adam, please…Tell me everything you remember. Shiro never talks about when I was in the hospital. I-…I want to know what you guys went through.” Keith pleaded.

“Okay, okay.” Adam sighed before giving Keith a soft smile, “It’s time you knew anyways...”

Adam took a deep breath before regaining his place in the story, and starting there, “By the time I got to the hospital you were already being taken into surgery to try and save your life. Takashi looked-…He looked so lost. An ER technician came to us and took us into a private room to tell us the extent of your injuries. Your left leg was obviously wrecked, and they were really worried they might have to amputate it, but until they could get you breathing on your own, they couldn’t get any x-rays done. You were hemorrhaging internally, and most frightening of all…You had sustained a brain injury, despite your helmet. It was-….It was bad. That was all they could tell us. I-…I never want to see Takashi cry the way he did when they gave us that news.”

Adam paused to regain himself, licking his lips before continuing. “We called your Amma, and told her what happened, and she swore that she’d be on the next plane home from Afghanistan. After that, all we could do was sit in the waiting room outside of surgery and pray for you to pull through. I remember praying, “”Please God, please don’t take him from us. I’ll give anything, just please don’t take Keith from us.”” I really didn’t think that night could get any worse, but then-…”

“Then?”

“Remember how I was feeling nauseous and tired that night?” Adam asked, he was looking directly at Keith now, making sure the young alpha paid attention. Keith nodded, not quite following.

“And do you remember how I lost my mind that one time you threw a tantrum and tried to rip up one of my rose bushes?” Adam asked. Keith nodded again, brow furrowing together.

“Well…Ever seen the movie _The Help_?”

Keith nodded again. Adam sat back and waited for Keith to get it. Keith quickly replayed every scene in his head. One scene in particular finally settled into his mental theater.

Keith paled.

“Adam! You-…Were you-?”

Adam gave a curt nod. “I was…”

“And-…And the roses? They’re-…”

Adam nodded again. “That’s-…That’s why I wasn’t feeling well that night. I felt sharp pain in my side while I was trying to sleep in the waiting room, and when I got up, I noticed I felt wet. I went to the nurse’s station and asked her if I could use their restroom, instead of the one for the public. She allowed me in when she saw the look on my face, and came to help me when she heard me panicking.”

“Adam…”

“Takashi wanted in, of course. He wanted to know what was going on. I could hear the panic in his voice as the second nurse tried to calm me down while the other ask me questions...Eventually, I asked if he could be let in. Takashi didn’t know what was happening, or why I had blood all over my hands, and was literally doubled over in pain.” Adam looked to be lost in the middle-distance again, eyes watering, but no tears spilling over. “First you…Then a baby we hadn’t even get the chance to be excited over…O-Our world was falling apart, and we didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to do! I was supposed to be the strong and supportive mate Takashi needed then, but I-…I couldn’t…”

Keith wrapped his arm around Adam’s shoulders, pressing close to his side, “I-…I had no idea. Shiro never told me about any of this! I-…I’m so sorry Adam…I’m so sorry I ever made fun of you.”

Adam sighed, gently wrapping his arm around Keith as well, “It’s okay, Keith. Really, it is. But now do you see why I said I know how it feels to feel broken?”

“Yes.” Keith pulled away from their hug, to look Adam in the eyes, “Did they-…Did they ever figure out what caused the miscarriage?”

“They did.” Adam said, voice shaking. “But that’s not for you to worry about. Anyways, back to the story. You know you were in a coma, but did you know that while you were in that coma, Takashi and I broke up?”

Keith snapped his attention to Adam, “You did **_what_** now?”

“We did.” Adam said with a nod. “We broke up. We got into this huge fight because after the miscarriage I was a wreck, and with you in the hospital, Takashi was a wreck, and neither of us knew what to do, and our medical bills were starting to pile up. Krolia was furious, and wanted us to take our wedding fund and throw it at suing the man who hit you for all he’s worth, and I just-…I couldn’t take it anymore. I broke up with Takashi, packed my bag, and called my parents. They bought me a plane ticket, and I flew to Miami to be with them. My Appa couldn’t understand why I would ever give up Takashi, and he kept hounding me about why I wasn’t here, trying to fix things. I told him I couldn’t fix you and I couldn’t fix me, and do you know what he said to me?”

“Something prophylactic, probably.” Keith smiled, remembering Adam’s sire, and how that man just radiated wise-old-man energy.

Adam let out a laugh, “You know he did! He looked at me, put his hand on my shoulder, and went, “”Son, you can fix anything with enough time and patience and love. Start with something you can fix with your hands, something you can fix with Takashi, and you will find you’re fixing each other.”” It was so off-the-wall, that I didn’t know what he was saying until he handed me three-thousand dollars, and told me to go home.”

“Three-thousand dollars? The man I couldn’t get spare change from to feed a parking meter gave you three-thousand dollars just because?” Keith asked, now also laughing.

“He had his reasons. And I had a long flight back here the very next day to think about where to put that money to good use. Speaking of, why don’t we head back to the house, and I’ll show you what I mean?” Adam asked.

Keith nodded in agreement. The two got up, and left the park, and their pain behind.

-

When they got back to the house, Keith made a b-line for the roses. They weren’t very tall. The oldest one almost reaching his hip in height, while the two smaller bushes on each of its sides were much smaller, but all three grew dazzling white roses. Not a single flower was bruised or damaged. Very healthy. Keith reached out and gently stroked a petal of a particularly large rose, its velvety soft surface oddly comforting.

He felt Adam’s presence at his side.

“Why white?” Keith asked.

“White roses represent purity, rebirth, and remembrance. It’s fitting, don’t you think?” Adam asked.

Keith nodded, humming softly, “It is. How did you get them so healthy?”

“Takashi says I’m an obsessive gardener.” Adam said with a breath of laughter. “He’s probably right. I can’t help but see these flowers as my babies. I know Takashi will never say it, but I know he likes seeing these roses just as much as I do.”

Keith nodded in agreement, giving the rose petal one last swipe of his thumb before releasing it, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you guys when all this happened. Even after I woke up.”

“I’m glad you weren’t, actually.” Adam said. “It’s not exactly a tea-party, and I’d rather you never see me so vulnerable, to be honest. I have to keep up my strong omega mask, after all.”

“Adam, I literally say you crying in the kitchen this morning.” Keith deadpanned.

“I don’t cry. I sneeze.”

“Oh, you definitely cry.” Shiro’s voice called from behind them as he rounded the corner of the house. “Remember when we saw _A Dog’s Purpose_?”

Adam puffed up, “That movie literally warns you in the trailer that it’s about a dog dying over and over and over again and being reincarnated, and I **_STILL_** wasn’t ready! Okay?! You should’ve known better than to take me to a dog movie!”

Shiro chuckled walking up to them, hands on his hips as he regarded Keith. “So, I take it you’ve come to apologize for earlier?”

“I am.” Keith said. “Shiro, I’m sorry for how I acted earlier. You guys are my family, and I should appreciate you guys more than I do, because truth be told, I almost lost you guys.”

Shiro narrowed his eyes at Keith, looking him up and down, before breaking into a smile, and yanking the younger alpha into a hug, “Damn right you need to appreciate us more, you little shit.”

Keith enjoyed the hug, letting it linger for a moment before pulling back and turning to Adam. “So what did you want to show me?”

Shiro perked up at that, “Show him?”

“It’s in the garage.” Adam said, gesturing over his shoulder. He gave Shiro a knowing look before leading them to the garage, jabbing the passcode into the keypad before going in. “So like I was telling you, my Appa gave me three-thousand dollars to find something to fix with Takashi. I didn’t know what he could’ve meant, until I was flying back from Miami, and I was flipping through pictures on my phone. There were so many of us together, and one particular one gave me the idea. So as soon as we landed, I called Krolia, who was still in town, and told her to bring her truck to the airport. She, of course, wasn’t too happy about me leaving, and was sure to let me know about it, but once I told her my idea, she agreed to it.”

Adam walked over to the north wall of the garage where something big was stashed under a heavy tarp, he grabbed a corner of the tarp before turning to Keith with a devious grin, “And when has your Amma ever agreed to anything I had to say?”

“She loves you, Adam, I swear.” Shiro said in an exasperated tone as Keith snorted with laughter.

“Takashi, she said my food was disgusting.” Adam retorted, “And you both know my food is **_fucking_** delicious!”

“Adam! You said the fuck word!” Keith laughed, never knowing the omega to drop f-bombs. Shiro burst into laughter next to him.

“And I damn well meant it!” Adam yelled, earning another fit of laughter from the two alphas. “Now, do you want to see what’s under this tarp, or no?”

Keith nodded, clearing his throat to try and suppress the need to laugh. Adam squinted at him suspiciously before turning back to the tarp and ripping it away, revealing three motorcycles lined in a row. The first two, black and white, Keith recognized as being Adam and Shiro’s. The last one was what caught his eyes.

Red and glinting in the afternoon sun that was filtering through the back window. She was here. She was perfect. Just like he remembered her. Keith felt himself take in a shaky breath after forgetting to for a moment. Tentatively, he reached out, closing the gap between him and the bike, letting his hand caress one of its gentle curves of its face.

“I had on my phone, a picture of you the Christmas we got you your motorcycle. You looked so happy, and alive. And it all made sense. That’s what my Appa wanted me to fix. That’s why he gave me the three-thousand dollars. To buy her from the junkyard, and get a jump-start on rebuilding her from the ground up for you, with Takashi. I don’t know how he knew…But it really did save our relationship.” Adam said, wrapping an arm around Shiro’s waist.

Shiro hummed in agreement, placing a kiss on Adam’s cheek. “I was so pissed seeing Krolia and you together, that I came out here, determined to tell you both to leave and never come back, but then I saw you both lifting pieces of that damn motorcycle off the bed of her pick-up, and I didn’t even know what to say to that.”

“She gave us one rule, remember?”

“Anytime we argued, we had to come out here and work on the bike for an hour. We didn’t have to get back together if we didn’t want to, but we had to get along, for Keith’s sake.” Shiro recalled, gazing lovingly at Adam.

Adam laughed, “We argued so much in the beginning!”

“Yeah, but her little time-outs worked. We started getting along together, and soon we both would just come out here to work on the bike just to see each other.” Shiro mused. “Remember that one night, when it was raining, and we were listening to the radio?”

“You asked me to dance.”

“It was the night we got back together.”

Keith ignored them, kicking his leg over to straddle the bike. He let himself sit back in her seat, before teetering her to the right, kicking away the kickstand, and getting a feel for her full weight below him, balancing on her. He hadn’t realized how badly he had been craving this feeling. Like saying hello to an old friend after spending a long time apart, or rediscovering a piece of you that had been missing.

“Hey guys…” Keith interrupted whatever lovey-dovey nonsense the two older men were talking about. “This is the greatest fucking brunch we’ve ever had.”

“Glad you like it.” Adam said, giving Shiro a shit-eating grin. “ ** _Somebody_** didn’t want me to push it today.”

“Well, if I had known you actually had my motorcycle rebuilt, I wouldn’t have blown up earlier!” Keith pointed out. “So about that ride…”

Shiro stepped away from Adam, pulling the keys from his pocket, dangling them in the air. “Are you sure you can handle it? You haven’t even ridden with one of us in the three years since the accident.”

“I can handle it.” Keith snatched the keys from Shiro’s grasp.

“That’s what I like to hear!” Adam exclaimed, pulling out a box from under the work bench, reaching inside, and yanking out a brand new helmet before tossing it to Keith. Before sauntering over to his bike next to Shiro’s, leaning over for a brief moment to kiss his alpha deeply for taking a seat on his own bike.

Shiro mounted his as well, snapping the clasps on his helmet shut as he looked over at Keith. “If you’re sure about this-…”

“I’m ready, Shiro. It’s time I get back on the horse.”

“Alright. I’ll take the lead, and Adam will follow behind you. If anything should happen, if you don’t feel right, or want to turn around, you tell him. We’ll turn around and come right back.” Shiro instructed. “Don’t push yourself, okay?”

Keith ignored him and started his motorcycle, flinching a bit as she roared to life below him. Adam followed his enthusiasm. Shiro frowned at his little brother before shaking his head in annoyance. He too, started his bike, giving Keith one more look before slowly pulling out of the garage and partly up the driveway.

Keith took a deep breath, shaking hand twisting the throttle a little too roughly, causing the bike below him to lurch forward. He steadied himself, giving Adam a sheepish smile, who merely gave him an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. Shiro merely shook his head.

“You need to relax, or this is going to be a short ride.” Shiro said.

Keith huffed, rolling his shoulders back as they waited for Adam to close the garage. Adam pulled up next to Keith and leaned over to him.

“You’re going to do great.” He spoke so only Keith could hear him, before giving the go-ahead to Shiro.

Shiro drove to the top of the driveway, quickly scoping the street, before taking off north. Keith was quick to follow, maybe a little too quick. But holy fuck he missed this! The speed, the power, the wind on his face! He was almost a little peeved that Shiro was setting the pace at five under the speed-limit, until Keith hit his first pothole and felt the bike below him quiver, and nearly lose control. His grip on the handlebars suddenly tightening to a death grip.

Adam had noticed and pulled up alongside him, calling to him, “You alright?”

“I’m fine!” Keith lied.

“You’re doing great, Keith!” He called, before falling back behind Keith. The praise, somehow getting Keith’s grip to relax. If Adam was convinced he was fine, then logically, he looked like he hadn’t missed a day of riding in three years. And he definitely didn’t look as scared as he felt.

Shiro, seeming to sense Keith’s nervousness, turned down one of the less busy, better paved roads that cut through the wooded area that divided subdivisions, rather than the main road, which was livelier by far. Letting Keith naturally relax with the lanes gentle curves, and quiet atmosphere. The breeze there in the shade of the tall trees somehow cooler and sweeter than on the main access road. Before Keith knew it, they had been driving around for over an hour, and Shiro was steering them towards home.

When they pulled back into the driveway of Shiro and Adam’s house, Keith felt lighter than air. Shiro smiled at Keith as he removed his helmet.

“I’m proud of you, Keith.” He said, beaming at the younger alpha.

“Thanks, Shiro.”

Adam stood next to Keith and watched as Shiro stored the bikes in the garage. He gently nudged Keith, “Look at him. I think you made his year today.”

“You think?”

“He’s wanted you to go for a ride with him since you were able to stand again.” Adam whispered. “It’s always been your guys’ thing, and I know he’s missed it.”

“I’ve missed it too. I’ve missed you guys…” Keith admitted.

Adam let out a gentle laughed giving Keith another playful nudge, “Don’t go getting soft on me, Cherry-Bomb!”

Shiro closed the garage and walked up to them, quickly snaking his arms around Adam’s waist. “So…We’ve had our battles for the day, done a little too much crying and yelling, and went for our first ride in years. Any one got any other surprises they’d like to share with the group?”

As if on cue, Keith heard his phone ping. Keith felt his cheeks flushed as he quickly checked it, registering that the message was from Lance, probably a reminder about tonight, by the copious amounts of blue heart emojis sprinkled within it, before shoving it back into his pocket.

“What was that?” Adam asked, looking like a cat that ate the canary.

“Hmm? Nothing.”

Shiro leaned over Adam’s shoulder, also grinning from ear to ear. “That didn’t look like nothing.”

“If I leave now, do I have to tell you?”

“Yes.” They said in unison.

Keith groaned, “It’s just a friend!”

“It’s a date.” Adam hummed with a nod.

Shiro nodded in agreement. “With a guy.”

“Awww Takashi, it’s his first date in years! Today has been so busy for our baby Keith!” Adam teased, breaking free from Shiro to wrap his arms around Keith’s shoulders the way any dame would with a child they were proud of.

“Alright, we’ve teased him enough…” Shiro said, taking Adam’s hand and guiding him away from the poor young male. “Besides, it’s clear he has a hot date that we’re keeping him from.”

Keith groaned loudly, “That’s it, I’m leaving! You guys are so annoying…”

“We love you too, little brother.” Shiro chuckled.

Keith rolled his eyes, a smile cracking across his face as he stepped up to them and gave them both a hug, letting this one linger for far longer than the normal, get-in-get-out kind of hugs Keith was used to.

“Keith-…Your scent.”

Keith moved to pull back, but Shiro held him firm. Adam made a noise confusion before pressing his nose to the other side of Keith’s neck. “Hey…You’re right Takashi!”

They released him and both stared in awe.

“W-What about my scent?” Keith was almost too afraid to ask.

“It’s-…” Shiro began.

“Stronger.” Adam finished.

Keith shook his head, “Are you sure you guys haven’t just forgotten my scent in the months we haven’t seen each other?”

“No.”

“No way. Keith, I’ve been your big brother for the twenty-two years you’ve been alive. I know your scent. It’s gotten stronger since the last time you were over.” Shiro insisted.

Keith rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Seriously? Already?”

“Already?!” Adam asked, exuberant, “Keith, have you started a new therapy?”

“Not exactly-….”

Shiro interrupted, “Is this about your date?”

“Yeah. It’s uh-…It’s this guy I’m seeing. My doctor said I needed to spend time with an unmated omega, and I got lucky with this one. He uh-…He doesn’t know about everything, but he scented me during our last date, and he said my scent reacted to his, but I didn’t think he was for real.” Keith admitted with a shrug.

“Well, let’s not keep him waiting, whoever this miracle boy is. Maybe next time, bring him along?” Adam said.

“Yeah. If this gets serious, I wanna meet him.” Shiro added.

Keith shook his head, “You guys are just marry me off.”

“You’re absolutely right. Speaking of marrying people off…Takashi, carry the love of your life to the honeymoon suite.”

“Alright, I’ll go find Black.” Shiro teased, earning a swift smack to his arm. “See you Keith. And please-“

“I’ll text you when I get home safe.” Keith said, with a smile as he walked down the driveway, listening to Adam’s laughter as Shiro chased him into the house, the juxtaposition between the morning and the early evening made Keith realize that he had been wrong about those two. They were going to be okay. And so was he.

And that night, he was going to tell Lance about everything that happened, and it was all going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was it bad? Please tell me if its bad. I value constructive criticism.


	5. Do You Have A Bigger Bag?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith opens up.
> 
> Lance gets excited.
> 
> And some trauma comes back to bite them in the ass.

“So uhh…How did you get into this?” Keith asked, awkwardly trying for small talk while he cleaned up the mess from their Chinese food dinner. “Get into what?” Lance asked, he looked down at his outfit. He had managed to nab one of Keith’s band hoodies from his room whenever Lance threw his overnight bag on the bed, to combat the blasting AC of Keith’s apartment, leaving just his highwaisted short shorts showing off his long legs. To be fair, he called these his “Get Sum” shorts, since most alphas seemed entranced by his legs and slim waist. “You mean my shorts?” Keith snorted, “No, Lance. I don’t mean your itsy-bitsy booty shorts. Though I am a little curious how you can wear those.”

“Body butter and zero shame.” Lance teased, uncrossing and crossing his legs to draw Keith’s attention. “You have to be ready to show off this much leg, and accept thigh chaffing as a cruel mistress.”

“Worth it, I’m sure.” Keith said, eyes trailing up Lance’s legs. “But you know what I meant.”

“I know what you meant. You meant how I got into being an omega for hire.” Keith sputtered at Lance’s bluntness, but Lance laughed. “It’s okay. It’s a perfectly valid question, that I actually get a lot.”

Keith blushed. “Oh.”

“To answer your question, I got into this because I needed the money. I stayed because the clients that I have…I care about them. I’ve really helped them.” Lance puffed up his chest. He was honestly proud of himself.

“Ooookay, I’m going to need some examples, Casanova.”

“Well, I have one ex client…He’s really sweet. Before me, he lacked any confidence in being an alpha because of trauma. To spare the details, he needed someone he could trust, someone he could easily over-power if he felt threatened, and let him be the boss. So he hired me. He stopped hiring me after he got this cute little mate, but we’re still close friends.” Lance reminisced.

“Sooo…what? You fucked the confidence right back into him?” Keith asked.

Lance scoffed. “No! It’s-…It’s more complicated than that. I listened to his problems, and became what he needed to heal. Not everyone is like that, most alphas that hire omegas for ruts or to baby-sit their kids aren’t looking for a therapist, but most of my regulars are the kind that need to heal some kind of wound.”

“Give me another example.” Keith suggested, flopping down onto the couch and moving to use Lance’s lap as a pillow, Lance immediately threading his fingers into Keith’s long hair, combing it with his fingers.

“I have this current client, he’s just a rich snob with this gorgeous fiancé, who is also an alpha. His family has some backwards ass beliefs about how female alphas aren’t meant to raise children, so they hired me to play the role of their meek, little pet. They parade me around at parties, like a rarity. It’s kind of nice to wear fancy clothes, and strut around at a party full of rich people to be honest, and they pay me extra anytime anyone puts their hands on me, which is nice. His fiancé also hires me to play with, being a female alpha she struggles with her instincts, and body image issues, just like me. He just likes to watch. Turns out, he’s very demisexual. It’s kind of hot.”

“I bet they call you “”Baby Boy””.” Keith teased.

Lance shot him a glare, giving his hair a slight yank as a warning. “They call me “”Blue””, first of all. And second, I don’t do age play.”

“So what’s the weirdest thing you’ve had a client ask you to do?” Keith asked.

“I’m not telling you.”

“Was it foot stuff? I bet it was foot stuff.” Keith said.

Lance lightly smacked Keith’s forehead. “Shut up! It-…It was piss stuff. Happy? One client asked me to hold it, and would make me drink water every half an hour or so. She wanted to see me desperate until I literally couldn’t hold it anymore. Then she held me in her lap while I lost control, and she praised me afterwards by eating me out until I couldn’t walk.”

“That’s nasty!”

“It uhhh…-It might be a kink now.”

“Lance, if you ever pee on me, I swear to God.” Keith threatened between fits of laughter.

Lance playful shoved the alpha off of his lap. “Uhh…Excuse me? You can’t afford my piss!”

That earned him another fit of laughter, but it quickly fell into silence. Keith’s face suddenly serious, he looked at Lance, eyebrows furrowed. “Am I-…Am I weird? For not asking you to do anything sexual?”

“Not at all.” Lance didn’t hesitate to answer, smile soft and heart warm. “Being an omega for hire doesn’t have to mean something sexual. Like my rich clients? Most of the time they just want to show me off, but other times they just want an omega around to help ease the stress of their everyday lives and pamper. Or that sweet alpha I told you about? We didn’t start off doing anything sexual, because he wasn’t ready. So we became friends first. We talked, we hung out. He eventually trusted me enough to initiate touch, and then we became more intimate. We went at his pace, and eventually he trusted me enough to try having sex. It took almost a year to work him up to it, and got him ready for the next step: Moving on.”

Keith seemed to soften at that, the tension in his shoulders relaxing as he smiled at Lance. “That’s reassuring.”

“Speaking of next steps…You said last time you would tell me why you hired me.” Lance said, scooting closer to Keith until they were shoulder to shoulder.

“I did say that, didn’t I?” Keith asked, giving Lance a weary smirk. “Well, I guess today has been a bit of a roller coaster already. So what’s the harm of a little more, right?”

“Stop stalling.” Lance warned, lightly elbowing Keith.

“Okay, okay…” Keith took a deep breath, but no words came out of his mouth. He deflated a bit, biting his lip and looking away from Lance, brows furrowing as if searching for the right words.

Seeing him struggling, Lance thought about changing the subject, “What did you mean when you said today’s been a roller coaster? If that’s easier…”

“Today? Uhh…Well, that’s the thing. Today is sort of a big deal in my family.” Keith seemed to physically recoil from the attempted change in subject, apparently it wasn’t too far away from the main subject. Lance frowned.

Damn. How was he supposed to get anything out of Keith like this? He thought hard about what Keith had said the past week, and all he could remember was Keith mentioning something happening a few years prior, and how he wanted nothing more than to pick Lance up by the ass. For some reason, that had stuck in his brain. Probably, and this was just a guess on Lance’s part, probably because Lance enjoyed the idea of Keith cupping his perky cheeks and lifting 160 pounds of fine Cuban man up with his strong hands as if he was a bag of flour. Yeah. That’s why he remembered.

Lance cleared his throat, mostly to shake away his embarrassingly thirsty thoughts out of his head but also to regain Keith’s attention, “I uh-…I remember last week you said something about that happened three years ago?”

Keith huffed a sigh, nodding, “Yeah. Well, that’s why today is a big deal in my family. Three years ago, I was-…I was in a really bad motorcycle accident.”

“I thought you looked the motorcycle type.” Lance hummed, looping his arm around Keith’s and leaning into him, to help ground him in the here-and-now, rather than letting the alpha get lost in the memory. “So is that why today was a roller coaster?”

“Sort of.” Keith breathed his fingers nervously picked at lint on the hoodie Lance wore. “My brother and his fiancé…Every year they insist we spend the anniversary together. I guess it’s their way of making sure I’m not alone, and remember that they care about me or something, but it’s mostly just pissed me off. They always look so stressed out, they always argue a lot around the anniversary. But what’s worse is the way they tip-toe around me like I’m made of glass. I hate it. It reminds me that I haven’t fully recovered from the crash.”

“You’re not fully recovered?” Lance asked eyebrows raised. He gave a quick up-and-down with his eyes as if he could pick out a flaw on the perfect alpha. He didn’t walk with a limp, and as far as Lance knew, he was healthy enough to be an active firefighter. “You seem perfectly healthy to me.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not.” Keith scoffed. “See, I was hit by a drunk driver, and I don’t remember much from the crash itself…I remember riding my motorcycle past this park not from my brother’s house, being caught in the headlights, my breath being knocked from my lungs, and the world turning sideways, but after that, nothing. Just darkness, and the sensation of far off voices, and just fog. Then I woke up, months later, feeling like I was trapped under a ton of cement, in a hospital bed, choking on a respirator.”

“Holy shit! You were in a coma?!” Lance asked, utterly astonished. He would never had guessed.

“Yeah. Doctors thought that, despite the brain swelling, I would be okay. I just-…I didn’t wake up. I hit my head pretty hard, and once I did wake up, I had to relearn a lot of stuff. Apparently my vocabulary isn’t as big as it used to be.” Keith said with a roll of the eyes, not seeming to care about something as mundane as vocabulary. “Specifically, I had to relearn how to write and walk. Especially with how mangled my left leg was in the accident.”

“I’ve been to physical therapy. It’s uhh-…Something. Ain’t it?” Lance asked, not exactly fond of those memories, punctuating his words with an uncomfortable roll of his shoulders.

Keith let out a soft laugh. “Sure. Let’s go with that. Anyways, even after three years, I’m not back to how I use to be, and today it definitely showed. I…I’ve been a lot angrier and isolated since the accident. I have problems processing anger sometimes, granted I wasn’t that good at it before, and I push my family away. I got into a fight with my brother’s fiancé, Adam today because of that. I stormed out, but he caught up with me, and we had a heart to heart. He told me about some stuff that happened when I was in the hospital that I never knew about, and it gave me some perspective, you know? It showed me why they’re always pushing me to keep going and not to give up on my recovery.”

“Sounds like quite a roller coaster of a day.”

“Yeah, and that’s before they talked me into getting on a motorcycle for the first time in three years.” Keith sighed in a dreamy way that Lance attributed to him missing that activity. Lance understood. When he was burns had healed completely, and he was cleared to bathe and swim again, he stayed in the water until Rachel had to physically pull him out.

Lance perked up, smile wide, “Woah! That’s awesome! How’d it go?”

“I almost wiped out a few times, but Adam said I did well.” Keith said, matter-of-factly.

“No no…How did it feel?” Lance asked, cutting Keith off from getting too analytical about it.

“Oh. It was-…Freeing. It felt like cool water flowing all around me, like I had found a missing piece of myself. But I was also terrified.” Keith admitted, a flush forming on his cheekbones. “I wanted it to work out so badly.”

“Did it?” Lance asked, reaching down Keith’s arm to lace their fingers together.

Keith smiled, “It did. More than that, I think it fixed my family. I haven’t seen them smile like that in a long time. I’m absolutely certain that they fucked on the kitchen island after I left.”

“ ** _Anyways_** , about your recovery…” Lance began after choking down a fit of laughter, “Is that why you hired me?”

“Yes.” Keith swallowed hard, withdrawing from Lance physically, leaving the omega with a small pout at the loss. “I-…I need your help.”

“I want to help you. I do. But I need to know what I’m working with if you expect me to help.” Lance reminded him, tone firm.

“Okay.” Keith breathed. “You know I suffered a brain injury during the accident.” Lance nodded. “And you know I have issues with my scent.” Lance nodded again. “Well…They’re connected.”

“Obviously.” Lance said flatly.

Keith ground his teeth, hands combing through his hair in frustration. He took a deep breath, finally turning to Lance, and looking him in the eye. “I-…Remember how I said I wanted to have sex with you?”

“Keith, stop avoiding the problem-“

“I’m not! That **_is_** the problem!” Keith yelled, wincing at his harsh tone before lowering his voice, “Last week, I was serious when I said wanted to have sex with you after you scented me. But I can’t, because of my brain.”

Lance raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, head tilting to the side in disbelief, “So you don’t want to have sex with me because you-what? Overthink things?”

“No! Lance-! That’s not-!” Keith growled, then flashed Lance a look of desperation, and Lance realized Keith was trying very, very hard to say without saying what was wrong, but Lance was just not understanding. It pulled at Lance’s heartstrings, his chest aching at the look of devastation in Keith’s eyes. Finally, the alpha deflated up realizing that Lance hadn’t quite put the puzzle together. Gaze low, and expression one of deep anguish, he finally whispered, “I-…I can’t have sex, Lance…I’m impotent.”

“Impotent?” Lance repeated. In a moment of silence, Lance raked his brain for the meaning behind that word. Impotent…Not potent…Potency here eluding to the penis…Oh. Lance sat back, eyes wide as the pieces fell into place. “Ohh…”

Keith seemed to curl in on himself, not daring to look at Lance. Clearly, this wasn’t something he told many people. Lance wondered if even his family knew. If anyone knew besides Keith’s doctor.

“So that-…that would explain that one time when I grabbed you, huh?” Lance asked, voice staggered with emotion, teetering up in pitch with embarrassment. “You know, I thought something was up. I mean, I thought maybe I had misread your attraction to me, but it makes sense now!”

“God this is embarrassing.” Keith groaned, burying his face in his hands.

“So…When you say you’re impotent…How impotent are we talkin’ here?” Lance asked, still trying to wrap his head around the idea that an absolute specimen of an alpha like Keith could suffer from fucking ED, of all things.

“Well it’s not like they have a point system, but if I had to give it a number…Completely and utterly fucked.” Keith sighed, throwing his hands up before slumping against the couch. Lance reached out and gently stroked one of Keith’s thighs soothingly. Keith huffed, taking Lance’s hand and holding it tightly, regaining himself. “I haven’t been able to get or maintain an erection, let alone climax, in the past three years. No ruts. No scent. No instincts. It’s like-…Like that truck knocked the alpha out of me.”

“Keith, that’s ridiculous. You’re still an alpha. You’re still you.” Lance declared, giving Keith’s hand a supportive squeeze.

“Lance, last week you called my scent weak. My scent used to be over-powering. You could smell I was an alpha before even seeing me.” Keith croaked. He looked close to tears. Nononono! Lance didn’t want to see him cry.

Lance wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulders, pulling him close, “Hey, listen to me…Just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t. I’m sure there are hormone treatments that we can look into that can-“

“There isn’t. I’ve-…I’ve tried them all. Even experimental ones. I’ve tried medications, meditation…I even did this weird sexual art therapy. **_Nothing_** helps. A week before I hired you, I went to see my doctor, and he told me my last hope was to find an unmated, natural omega to spend time with and hope for the best.” Keith’s voice was thick with emotion, he let his hair fall in his face, shielding it from Lance’s sight, but given the quake in his shoulders, Lance knew, with a sinking feeling deep in his chest, he must have been crying.

“That’s why you hired me…I’m your last chance?” Lance whispered, rubbing Keith’s arms to steady him.

Keith nodded.

“Well…I’m honored for the job, and your trust with this. I promise you, on my omma’s name, I’m going to do everything in my power to help you get better.” Lance caught Keith’s chin with his fingers and turned his face towards him as he spoke softly, a bit disheartened to be met with Keith’s tear stained face. Lance gently cupped Keith’s face in his hands, thumbs brushing away stray tears. “And no matter what, you’re still you. Your gender, whether primary or secondary, does not define who you are on the inside, and that’s what’s important. Never forget that. That’s something that damn truck could never steal from you.”

Keith’s expression softened, a small smile breaking across his face before he gave a curt nod, one hand coming up to take Lance’s. “Thank you Lance.” The alpha whispered, eyes still shimmery with wetness, but none the less happy. Lance got the feeling Keith needed to hear those words.

Lance leaned forward, capturing Keith’s lips with his own in a chaste kiss that left him feeling a flood of warmth in his heart. Keith trusted him. He trusted Lance to help him put the pieces of his shattered pride back together. Lance crawled into Keith’s lap after initiating another chaste kiss, wrapping his hands around the back of the alpha’s neck.

“And just so you know…I’m pretty sure I’m already having a positive influence on you.” Lance smirked once he was seated comfortably on top of Keith’s thighs.

“Oh?”

Lance nodded, thumb tracing the sharp angle of Keith’s jaw. “Mm. You haven’t noticed? Last week your scent reacted to mine. That’s something, right? Something you didn’t think possible? Well…Your scent is definitely stronger this week. I don’t have to press my nose to your neck to catch that it’s there. Granted, it’s still preeeeetty week, but as my physical therapist **_loooooved_** to remind me constantly, “”Every little gain is worth it.””.”

“Now that you mention it…Shiro did seem to think my scent had gotten stronger.” Keith hummed.

“Soooo, I’ll just have to scent everything you own, and hope you keep reacting to my scent. Starting with this hoodie.” Lance hummed, flirtatious tone dialed up to elven.

“Just the hoodie?” Keith teased, tilting his head to the side in a way that exposed his neck. Okay, damn! Lance wasn’t prepared for how coy of a flirt Keith could be. Shit!

Lance quickly recovered, “Oh no baby…You’re definitely getting the full treatment. I’m going to drench you in my scent until you absolutely reek of me. You might not be able to fuck me, but you sure will smell like you can and did.”

“Lucky me.” Keith said, rolling his eyes, and feigning sarcasm. “I get to walk around smelling like horny omega. Great.”

“You dick!” Lance laughed, kissing Keith once more, humming softly when one the alpha’s thumbs found that special spot along the top of his hip bone, digging harshly into it, and making Lance almost purr. He immediately let his tongue roam Keith’s mouth for a moment, the male beneath him sucking lightly and caressing his tongue with his own, before swiping at the omega’s mouth.

Lance broke the kiss, not feeling kind enough to indulge Keith in tongue fucking each other, before trailing slow, open mouth kisses to the juncture of Keith’s neck and shoulder. He pressed his nose against Keith’s scent gland, a soft rumble coming from the back of his throat when he confirmed the alpha’s scent was indeed stronger here. There was no questioning it, this was an effect of Lance’s own, needy scent dragging Keith’s from the depths where it seemed to be stuck fast.

Lance rubbed his cheek against it harshly, doing just as he promised, drenching it in his own scent before scrapping at it with his teeth, earning a soft whimper from Keith, no doubt feeling the ministrations more this time around, the gland not being completely dormant. Lance reached up, lips pressed close to Keith’s ear, and sounding a little breathless, “How far can I go without bonding you? I wonder…”

He felt Keith’s grip on his hips tighten, before the omega dove back in. Taking the soft spot between his teeth, biting roughly, and sucking hard. The hickey he had left on Keith the previous week hadn’t lasted nearly long enough, given that it was completely gone now, and Lance would be damned if he didn’t have a lasting mark on Keith. Okay, maybe not a permanent one, but one that would at least last until next Thursday, when he could renew it. So like…A semi-permanent mark to let everyone know Keith was a lucky, lucky alpha. Impotency be damned!

Keith groaned lowly, at the harsh treatment. Lance let the flesh go with a wet sounding pop, before going back in to leave apologetic kisses and soft kitten licks to the now swollen flesh. He could taste a burst of Keith’s scent in the back of his throat, scent sticking to his saliva, and let out a soft laugh when he pulled back and saw the dark bruise he left in his wake.

“You ass! You left another hickey, didn’t you?” Keith asked, voice wistful, and velvety with his contentment.

“Mhmm. A big one too.” Lance purred, giving a small pleased shimmy to his hips before moving on to the other side, nuzzling into Keith’s skin.

Keith hummed, “A bit possessive, aren’t you?”

“Shh…Let me work.” Lance mumbled into the warm, soft skin on Keith’s neck. He hummed happily, cheek pressed to the gland on Keith’s right. One of Keith’s hands hand migrated up and to the nape of Lance’s neck, thumb gently pressing into one of Lance’s own scent glands, the gesture relaxing, and making Lance realize he felt all too warm, but damn it he had a job to do!

Lance kissed the spot on Keith’s neck, deciding to be much gentler with this side, and eased his teeth around the gland, applying pressure and releasing in a pattern that was reminiscent of chewing, applying more pressure with his teeth every time, easing Keith into harsher bites. His cheeks hollowed as he sucked evenly on the skin between his teeth, releasing the pressure rhythmically. Keith let out a small sigh, content with the feeling. When Lance was satisfied with the way their scents mingled on the alpha, he released Keith’s neck, and was only a little embarrassed that there was a smaller, but still very visible hickey on this side of Keith’s neck as well. Whoops.

Lance sat back in Keith’s lap, his right thumb brushing over the swollen gland on that side, antagonizing it a bit, and earning a small wince from Keith. “I think that will do you for now. Don’t want to hurt you or anything.”

“Can I-…Can I scent you?” Keith asked, one hand gripping Lance’s forearm.

Lance was taken aback. He didn’t think Keith was necessarily ready for something like that, but the alpha had had a long day of firsts, so who was he to say no and crush his winning streak? He smiled, “If you’d like.”

Keith nodded eagerly. “I do.”

His hands reached down to Lance’s ass, hiking his weight up into his arms, causing the omega to yelp as he was thrown off balance. Keith turned, practically flipping Lance as he did, so Lance could lean back against the couch for their continued scenting. Once Keith had Lance off of his lap and planted on the couch, his hands gently stroked up Lance’s thighs, admiring the supple, tan skin with a pleased hum before dipping between Lance’s thighs, spreading his legs so Keith could lean on one knee, which pressed dangerously close to Lance’s crotch, and hardening erection in his itsy-bitsy booty shorts. Lance’s eyes shot up from his legs to meet Keith’s eyes, which were intently watching his, a cocky half-smile on his face. Lance’s ears felt warm, and he gulped hard.

“Look at you…” Keith tutted. “Where’d all that boldness go, hmm? Cat got your tongue, Lance?”

“I-…I hate you.” Lance said quickly, voice warbled before he laughed. “I’m supposed to be the tease here, not you! Stop stealing my job!”

“If I could get it up, how much do you think I’d make as an alpha for hire?” Keith asked, fingers teasing along the side of Lance’s neck, before grasping the fabric of the hoodie and giving it a gently yank.

Lance scoffed, hand coming up to hold the hoodie out of the way so Keith could work on his scent gland, “With that mullet of yours? Good luck getting any customers.”

“Bet you’d hire me.” Keith muttered, leaning in and taking a deep breath of Lance’s decadent scent from the source. “Something tells me you’re attracted to strength, given how you squeaked when I picked you up and haven’t stopped blushing since.”

“I’m not blushing!” Lance denied. He knew he was. He could feel his ears burning. But like hell he was going to admit it! That’d be like admitting he was turned on at that moment. Which he was, but again, he wasn’t going to tell Keith that.

“Mhmm. You keep telling yourself that, Lance.” Keith said, between peppered kisses to Lance’s neck, earning a small shiver from the omega.

Keith licked a long, wet stripe across Lance’s scent gland. He mumbled something unintelligible before setting his teeth on it, teeth raking across it and pulling gently at the skin of Lance’s neck, stimulating the gland below its surface, and earning a quiet groan from Lance. The alpha rubbed his cheek against it soothingly, before nibbling at it again, this time adding the sweet, sweet pressure of sucking on Lance’s skin.

Lance let out a soft sigh, head lolling back as Keith worked the scent gland with his mouth, earning an outburst of fresh scent. Keith hummed happily before sucking harder for a few more moments before retracting from the left side of Lance’s neck. He pressed a sloppy kiss to Lance’s cheek before nuzzling back into Lance’s neck, his nose close to the epicenter of Lance’s scent, and made a pleased noise.

“It’s working…You’re starting to smell like me.” Keith whispered into Lance’s ear. “Even if it’s only a little bit…”

“E-Every little bit matters.” Lance reminded him, trying not to sound as wrecked as he felt. He honestly couldn’t remember that last time he had been scented like this, and it was damn hot! It didn’t help that he could smell Keith’s scent beginning to overlay with his own needy scent, mingling more than they did last time, and coaxing Lance into a relaxed state of mind and body. He was practically melting into the couch, and into Keith’s touch. God this was dangerous!

Lance let his head loll to the left, completely exposing the right side of his neck, his other hand lazily coming up and weakly pulling the fabric of Keith’s hoodie back, to give the alpha hovering over him more space to attack his neck with vigor.

Keith’s warm hand came to rest on the juncture of Lance’s neck and shoulder, thumb pressing over his scent gland, and into the tendon there, fingers pinching lightly and massaging the area, eliciting a soft moan from the omega below him.

“Magic fingers much?” Lance purred as the tension in his right shoulder melted away.

“I get bad headaches, and I had to learn how to give myself massages to help ease some of the pain.” Keith said with a small shrug, he leaned down, lips close to Lance’s ear. “Maybe one day I’ll show you what I learned. Bet your shoulders get stiff with your scar…”

“Oh you fucking **_will_** show me what you’ve learned, because my shoulders absolutely do still get stiff.” Lance insisted as the warm hand moved away, bracing on his shoulder as Keith kissed his jaw, then a spot on his neck just adjacent to his scent gland on that side. Keith made a noise of agreement before he bit harshly at the gland, capturing it between his teeth, and sucking lightly at it before letting go of it with a slight pop. He lapped at it graciously, apologizing to Lance for his roughness. Lance’s fingers threaded into the back of Keith’s hair as the alpha worked this side of his neck, earning sharp gasps from him as Keith sucked a couple fresh hickies of his own into Lance’s flesh.

Then Keith did something unprecedented.

On the other side of Lance’s neck, as he nibbled on the right scent gland, his thumb and index finger caught the left one, swollen a bit from Keith’s earlier attack, and pinched it with similar pressure as his teeth, earning one long moan from Lance, and an involuntary buck of his hips. With that, Keith let go of Lance’s neck all together, sitting back and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, admiring how disheveled Lance looked from the abuse to his neck.

“How was that?” Keith asked, eyes roaming Lance’s features.

“I think-…I think you’ve improved. Drastically. From last week to now, you’ve definitely improved.” Lance muttered, breath staggered, as he tried to mask his panting. He tried his hardest not to squeeze his thighs together as he felt the tell-tale signs of slick beginning to form in his underwear, given that Keith’s knee was still between his legs.

“You think so?”

Lance nodded. His mouth felt entirely too dry, and he was cursing himself for letting things get so out of control, because now he was fucking horny and Keith wasn’t even aroused. Well, it wasn’t from a lack of desire, clearly, as far as Lance could tell. His fingers gingerly coming up to touch a few patches of skin that felt swollen, knowing the cocky alpha left him some parting gifts as he had so generously given to him as well.

Keith seemed pleased with himself, moving to sit next to Lance, and leaning back against the couch, arm thrown up behind Lance, as if encouraging him to cuddle and bask in their tangled scents, but Lance felt entirely too antsy. Arousal making him a fidgety and on edge.

He stood up, clearing his throat. “I-…I gotta use the restroom. Find us something to watch or something for when I get back.”

Keith’s face fell, a little shocked by Lance’s reaction and gave a small nod, “Okay. Sure thing.”

Lance excused himself to the hall bathroom, locking the door tightly behind him before his hand raked through his hair, letting out a sigh that was a mixture of relief and frustration. He looked at himself in the mirror. His cheeks were red, as were the tips of his ears, but what really caught his eye was the two red hickies on the right side of his neck, and a small, barely there one on the left. He let out a soft laugh, shaking his head as he examined them closely in the mirror. He should’ve reminded Keith he normally doesn’t let his clients mark him in any way beyond scent. It’s bad for business. Very unprofessional, actually. It makes him look like a horny teenager, a sexual deviant, and frankly, it often upset other clients to see marks on the omega they were plowing. Granted, they all knew Lance wasn’t theirs to possess, but it definitely hurt their pride. Plus it looked bad at his other job.

Still…Lance’s fingers gingerly traced the marks. He couldn’t bring himself to scold Keith for this. Not this time. Not when Keith seemed on top of the world. Lance made a mental note to tell Keith some other time, and let it slide just this once. Especially since the heavy scenting and abuse to his neck had definitely gone straight to his groin. Speaking of…Lance glanced down at his shorts, lifting the hem of the sweatshirt to reveal the bulge in the denim from his erection, thankful Keith hadn’t noticed when he escaped to the restroom.

Lance drew his bottom lip between his teeth and contemplated his options. On the one hand, if he ignored his arousal, he would be on edge all night, and would, if the past was anything to learn from, suffer wet dreams all night from being revved up with nowhere to go. Not exactly ideal for sleeping in the same bed as Keith. On the other hand, if he did jerk it now and waltzed out into that living room, stinking of a satisfied omega, it might hurt Keith’s pride. But then again, Lance was always flattered whenever he learned he turned someone on, so maybe Keith wouldn’t mind if Lance just relieved himself a bit?

Lance looked at his reflection, shrugging to himself before unbuttoning his shorts, thumbs dipping past the band to slip them past his hips before shimmying them down his thighs, wincing slightly as he felt the denim cling to him a bit, wetness evident. Damn it. There was no way he could keep wearing those. Lance huffed, slightly annoyed.

Being an omega was kind of great, in Lance’s opinion. He got to experience everything sex had to give, but there were drawbacks, and slick was one of those double edge swords that he both loved and hated all at once. For one thing, nothing got alphas going faster than the scent of slick, and if you were naturally lucky, like Lance, you really never needed lube. The down side, however, was he NEVER needed lube because anytime he was turned on, like really turned on like he was right now, he would leak slick worse than a faucet in a plumbing commercial, and it sometimes made wearing things like lace panties and booty shorts bad ideas, because he’d soak them. Tonight was no exception.

Lance kicked the shorts away, mildly disgusted with them before taking a deep breath, one hand teasing along the hip where a light bruise from Keith’s grasp had formed. He hummed with delight as he pressed lightly into it, electricity jolting through his pelvis. Slowly, Lance eased himself out of the lacey panties he had chosen specifically for his shorts, a minty green that contrasted lovely with his tanned skin and the dark blue of the denim. Lance gasped sharply as the cold air hit his sopping wet omega slit. Fuck that alpha for making sure his apartment was a well-kept 68 degrees!

Slowly, his hands turned teasing, one gently tracing along his hip bones and down his thighs as Keith’s hands had, the other closing firmly around the base of his cock, head lolling back with a soft sigh against the bathroom wall. He gave himself a few experimental pumps, thumbs swirling around the head and spreading the pre that bubbled there. Fuck, he was closer than he had anticipated, coiled tight, and nearly ready to burst. He blamed Keith’s ridiculously well-done teasing. Something about that alpha just did things to Lance. It really didn’t help that Lance could now actively smell Keith on the hoodie and on himself, wrapped around him like his strong arms were hugging him tight.

Lance’s free hand slipped between his legs, past his dick and beyond his small testies, long fingers spreading for the folds of his cunt, teasing them lightly in time with lazy pumps of his other fist. Lance bit his lip to stifle the soft groan that stuck in his throat. Finally unable to wait, he let one finger slide in, curling in behind his pelvic bone, pressing into the sweet spot behind it, right as his thumb swirled around the head of his cock one more time, earning a shiver that emanated from his hips and traveled up his spine. Fuck he was close! Two fingers slid in next to the first, arousal opening him up, and allotting the stretch effortlessly, wet walls yielding to his fingers with sloppy squelches, but nonetheless trying to clamp down around them as warmth pooled in his lower belly and his toes curled as he hurtled towards the peak.

A soft knock came to the door, startling Lance and making him stall, orgasm slipping away. “Lance?” FUCK THAT FUCKING ALPHA THERE IS NO WAY HE HEARD LANCE! “Are you alright?”

“ ’M fine.” Lance called, trying not to pant as he resumed his masturbation. “I-I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Okay. Oh, hey! I found a game I think you’ll like. Hope that works.” Keith said through the door. Lance swallowed a groan, not quite enjoying the jolts of electricity shooting to his dick every time Keith spoke.

“Sounds great!” Lance feigned, hips twitching violently. Keith finally moved away from the door.

Lance came with a stuttered gasp, the duality of it sending shockwaves up his spine, making his back spasm as he shot his load onto the floor. His hips rolled to grind between his fists, prolonging the feeling before coming down from his high. He leaned heavily against the wall, knees quaking as he caught his breath. Slowly he retracted his fingers from himself, popping them into his mouth to lick them clean. He looked down at the splattering of cum that he luckily only got on the floor, then the slick that now trickled down his inner thigh with greater annoyance. Fuck!

If there was one thing that Lance hated about masturbating, it was the cleanup. That’s why he enjoyed sex with a partner so much. Nine times out of ten he could just roll over and his partner would clean him up, all doting as people usually were for omegas. Alone well…He had to do it all. And he would much rather be basking in the afterglow, enjoying how twitchy he gets, or how his pussy just pulses with small aftershocks when it’s really, really good sex. But unfortunately, he couldn’t very well do that, sneaking a quickie in the restroom of some hot-ass alpha’s apartment, now could he?

He sighed, pushing himself off the wall and doing a quick scan of the bathroom for anything that he could use for a quick cleanup that maybe wasn’t toilet paper, since the stuff wasn’t exactly ideal. Lance wasn’t so lucky. No wash cloths, and only a hand towel were in this bathroom. What sort of barbarian was Keith, really? Lance glanced down at his discarded panties. Well…They definitely weren’t ideal, but hell, they were still better than toilet paper.

Once he was done cleaning up his mess, Lance quickly slid back into his shorts, stuffing the soiled panties into his back pocket, before quickly giving himself a once over in the mirror. You really couldn’t tell he was going commando if you were looking at him. And luckily, while he was furiously masturbating, the wet spot from his slick had dried a bit, so you could barely tell it had been there. Lance could smell it of course. He just had to hope Keith wouldn’t call him out on it. When he was satisfied with his appearance, he flushed the toilet and washed his hands before emerging from the bathroom, tiptoeing back to the living room.

Lance peeked around the corner to see Keith engrossed in a videogame, but he almost immediately noticed Lance’s presence, a smirk spread on his handsome face. “Took you long enough.”

“I _did_ say you couldn’t afford my piss for a reason, didn’t I? The reason is when I have to go, I have to _go_.” Lance shrugged, fabricating an excuse on the spot before stepping past Keith to flop down in what was quickly becoming his spot on the alpha’s couch. Right up against him. He wiggled a bit until Keith adjusted to let him lean heavily into his chest. “What’d you put in?”

“Just an old game I really love.” Keith shrugged, as he turned on a second controller, passing it to Lance, and started up the game.

Almost immediately there was the jarringly loud theme, and a logo of a bald man and a water valve coming out of the back of his head. Followed by the twang of a guitar, as the opening cinematic began, showing a post-apocalyptic landscape, and four survivors armed to the teeth as a man with a deep voice began narrating.

“What is this?” Lance asked, squinting at the screen. “Looks old.”

“Shhh, just watch.” Keith whispered.

The guitar rift picked up as one of the survivors kicked open a door to their safe house. Zombies. Fucking zombies. What followed was just a montage of chaos and ridiculous bad-assery that would have any thirteen year-old shivering with excitement, set to the rocking guitar rift that ended with the game’s title: _Left 4 Dead 2_.

“Oh my God. Keith, what the fuck?” Lance laughed. This was so cheesy! “A zombie game? _Really?”_

“It was my favorite game growing up. My brother and I use to play it all the time together.” Keith said with the roll of his eyes. “Plus, it’s the only zombie game that’s worth a damn. Everything else takes itself entirely too seriously.”

“Your favorite, huh?” Lance asked with a quirked brow. “Well…If it’s your favorite, I guess I’ll give it a try. What’s the goal?”

Keith cycled through the menu, quickly selecting a character and the first campaign. “What do you mean? The goal is to get from point A to point B without dying, and while killing as many zombies as possible. ‘Nuff said.”

“That’s it? Okay…Uhhh, who should I be?” Lance asked, cycling through the remaining characters: Nick, Coach, and Rochelle.

“Considering you’ve never played before? Rochelle. Her A.I. is the **_worst_**.” Keith scoffed.

Lance hummed with a nod, selecting Nick. “Too late. I choose Mr.Suit. Let’s get on with it!”

Keith huffed, trying not to laugh before starting the game. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

-

“Fucking. **_Rochelle_**. How is she so stupid?! She was **_right there!_** How did she fail at getting into the helicopter?!” Lance asked, gesturing wildly at the screen as it faded to black.

Lance’s eyes burned. He rubbed at them with the heel of his hand as he arched his back to stretch out the tension that had settled there as the game’s victory music played, and the credits rolled. Their stats rolled by with them. It had been so long since he had really played a videogame that he had forgotten how bad he was about blinking while playing them until it was too late.

“How in the hell did you manage to get a 75% headshot ratio when this is the first time you’ve played this game?” Keith questioned, totally flabbergasted.

Lance laughed, still rubbing at one of his eyes as the other slowly regained its clarity, “Well obviously I have amazing eyes. There’s a reason anytime I play first person shooters my siblings call me “”Sharpshooter””.”

Keith snorted, “Uh-huh. Sure they do.”

“Okay, maybe they don’t, but it’ll catch on.” Lance said, squinting at the warm yellow light of the living room compared to the harsh blue light of the TV. “God how long have we been playing?”

“Well…Considering each campaign took us over and hour to complete, because **_somebody_** had to explore everything and trigger **_every_** hoard event…My guess is a long fucking time.” Keith teased as he stretched his arms above his head, groaning quietly with delight when something popped loudly.

Lance hummed, exhaustion rolling over him like a gentle wave. He yawned, grabbing his phone to check the time. “Oh shit…It’s three in the morning.” He flopped against Keith, having earlier abandoned his spot on the couch to sit on the edge of his seat as he grew more invested in the dumb game, too tired to get up just yet.

“We should probably go to bed then.” Keith stated, arm wrapping around Lance lazily.

“I think we found our new favorite pastime.” Lance yawned again, trying hard not to snuggle in. He wasn’t totally against sleeping on the couch again, but to be honest, Keith’s large, plush bed was calling his name. “We make a pretty good zombie killing team.”

Keith made a noise of agreement before adding, “I’d love to play with you again sometime.”

Lance’s eyes went wide, perking up, “Oh we’re fucking playing this game again tomorrow morning, mister! And we’re gonna play those mini-games in Dark Carnival, and save that damn gnome!”

“You keep saying that, but who’s gonna be the one to carry the gnome the whole way?” Keith asked, pressing a kiss to Lance’s neck.

“You, obviously.” Lance declared, eyes fluttering shut at the gentle touch.

Keith laughed. As he did, he untangled himself from Lance, earning a pout from the omega, standing up and switching off his console and tv before offering a hand to Lance. “Okay, “”Sharpshooter””. Why don’t we go get some sleep before we settle this like men in the morning?”

Lance took his hand, letting the alpha hoist him to his feet, and pull him close. “We can settle this however you want… _Keith_.” Lance fell into a southern drawl on the last word with a mischievous grin, making the alpha cringe.

“Don’t.” Keith warned. “Do not do what you’re about to-“

“I ever tell ya’bout the time my buddy Keith drowned in the Tunnel of Love?” Lance drawled as quoted Ellis near-perfectly.

Keith groaned loudly, “ ** _Lance!”_**

“Awww Keith...I would never let you drown in the Tunnel of Love, promise!” Lance teased, kissing the alpha’s cheek. “Can’t promise I wouldn’t laugh my ass off though.” Lance shrugged before sauntering off towards the bedroom.

“What makes you think I would want to be in the Tunnel of Love with you?” Keith asked, following behind the omega.

“Who _wouldn’t_ want to be in the Tunnel of Love with me?” Lance countered as they entered the room. He made a b-line for the bed.

Keith rolled his eyes, kicking the door most of the way closed, before crossing the room to the master bathroom. “You keep telling yourself that.”

Keith flicked on the light and started on his nightly routine, as Lance dug through his overnight bag, fishing out the back up pair of boxers he had stashed in the bag. With a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Keith was preoccupied, he slipped out of his shorts and quickly into his boxers, sighing slightly at the relief they brought resting upon his hips. He folded up his short-shorts and stuffed them deep into the bag to hide his sins from the world.

For a moment, he looked longingly at his many face creams, and masks that he used at night. But frankly, he was entirely too tired for his whole 45 minute routine, and instead just grabbed his face wash and tooth brush. He stepped into the bathroom next to Keith at the sink, the alpha looking half-asleep as he brushed his teeth. He acknowledged Lance with a nod, gently sliding the tooth paste to him, which Lance accepted. He inspected the brand, turning his nose up for a moment, before giving in, trying not to gag on the cherry flavor he was not use to. Taking to glancing around the bathroom to preoccupy him, though nothing about was particularly interesting. Sure, the Mane and Tail shampoo in the shower deserved a double-take, but nothing else was as intriguing.

So Lance set his eyes on what was in front of him. A row of small acrylic boxes were lined up against the large mirror on the counter. One was filled with q-tips, another with hair ties, and another housed two prescription bottles that Lance thought better than to stare at for too long. Lance figured they were from the accident or something, and thought better of asking about them. Instead, Lance tried to imagine Keith with his hair pulled back into a pony tail, focusing on the hair ties.

Once Lance finished brushing his teeth, he realized he didn’t have to imagine it. Keith was holding a hair tie between his teeth as he brushed back his hair, pulling it into a tight pony tail before tying it off. He caught Lance staring and quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

“You have no right to do this to me, sir.” Lance muttered, a hand coming up to rest over his heart to punctuate his sentence, not at all prepared for how endearingly adorable Keith looked.

“Do what?” Keith asked, tilting his head.

Lance ignored him, wetting his burning face before taking some face wash and lathering it into his skin, paying extra attention to the area of his cheeks just by his nose, chin, and his forehead. Those places somehow always feeling the grimiest at the end of the day. Lance could sense Keith was hovering by him, and closed his eyes as he splashed water over his face to wash everything away. Blindly, he reached out for Keith, who passed him a towel to dry his face with, Lance making a small noise of gratitude before drying his face with it.

When he pulled the towel away, Lance wasn’t expecting to see Keith leaning against the counter, an affection smile plastered on his features.

“What?” Lance asked. Keith shrugged. Lance tossed the towel at his dumb face as he passed him. “Stop smiling at me, creep.”

Keith sputtered as he was blinded by the towel, ripping it from his face and discarding it in the sink, a bit flustered by the move. Lance chuckled at the display, before bending over to plug in his phone into the outlet closest to that side of the bed. When he stood up, Keith’s hands wrapped around his waist from behind, nose pressed into his scent gland, and earning a sharp gasp of surprise from the omega. Lance’s hands coming to clutch Keith’s.

“Keith?”

“Thank you for helping to make today memorable…in a good way.” Keith whispered against his skin, before lazily dragging his cheek across Lance’s scent gland, mildly scenting him again.

Lance relaxed into the embrace, “I’m glad I could help.”

He felt Keith smile against his neck, before letting him go, climbing onto the large bed, and crawling across to his side, Lance following behind him, all too happy to get under the covers and sink into the soft mattress. Keith turned off the single lamp that had been on in the room, letting darkness envelop the room. Lance stretched his arms out above his head, arching his spine to ease his back muscles into relaxing, before settling.

It only took about five minutes for Lance to realize the bed might be a bit too big for him to really get warm under the covers, despite how comfy it was. Though heavy, the comforter was entirely too large, and was not warming up fast enough for Lance’s tastes.

“Keith?” Lance whispered.

“Hm?”

Lance answered with a grumble, “You’re apartment is too fucking cold.”

“I’m sorry?” Keith’s tone didn’t sound sorry.

Lance huffed, wiggling around to try and trap as much comforter as he could under himself, creating a pocket just for him to try and trap his body heat, shivering from the cold sheets. “Don’t sound sorry. How are you not cold?!”

Keith made a noise of amusement, the mattress dipped with his weight as he scooted across the large bed to get close to Lance. “That cold huh?”

Lance turned his head to shoot a glare through the darkness at the alpha, “Seriously, do you have a personal grudge against warmth or something?”

“I run warm.” Keith said as he settled in behind Lance, one arm coming up sheepishly to wrap around Lance’s waist. He wasn’t wrong. Lance could already feel his warmth on his back, and pushed back to meet Keith’s chest, slotting their bodies together, and forcing Keith to hold tightly to him.

“Uh-huh. Sure you’re not just saying that so I’ll let you cuddle me all night?” Lance asked, a pleased hum leaving him, as Keith snuggled into his back, nose pressed into his neck.

“I’m sure. Though I do enjoy this side benefit.” Keith whispered, drifting off to sleep faster than Lance was.

Lance yawned, “What are my benefits?”

Keith nodded, voice teetering with sleep, “You’re handsome…and sweet…Best benefits…”

“You think I’m handsome?”

Lance didn’t get a response, Keith was out cold. Breath coming in shallow bursts against his neck, his grip on the omega’s waist loosening just a touch as his muscled slackened. Lance smiled. Cute. This alpha was dangerously cute. Lance relaxed in his hold, feeling safe and warm.

-

Heavy rain battered the filthy windows in a crescendo, interrupted by a crack of thunder so loud, the walls seemed to shake with its power. Lance startled, bolting awake and into the moment. The room was dark, save for a lantern set on the kitchen counter, but quiet despite the raging storm outside. In spite of the room’s stillness, Lance felt an edge of impending doom sink into his chest with every hammer of his heart as he caught his stuttering breath.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice cooed softly in his ear, warm arms wrapping around his shoulders and chasing away the chill of fear. Lance turned to the alpha seated next to him on the floor, propped against the sturdy interior wall of the home, covered in hurried messages of those who came through before them. “Are you okay?”

The omega nodded, calmness spreading through him at the sight of Keith’s handsome face. He reached up and gently brushed some dirt from that handsome face. “I’m fine. The storm woke me up.”

“At least you got some rest.” Keith said with a soft smile, capturing Lance’s hand and pressed a kiss to his wrapped palm. The once white bandages stained, with what, Lance couldn’t tell for sure. “No telling when you’ll get it again.”

“Gross.” Lance heard someone say from the other side of the room.

Lance turned his head, squinting hard in the low light to make out the small frame of a person curled around the arm of a dilapidated sofa, knees pulled to their chest, deeply enveloped by an over-sized flight jacket, and mud-caked boots tucked under their butt.

“Leave them alone, Pidge. Let them have their moment.” Another voice said, but Lance didn’t need to see who it belonged to Hunk.

Pidge made a disgusted noise in the back of their throat, jumping up from their spot on the couch and snatching a bat from the coffee table and a small medical kit before slinging it over their back. “Whatever. Now that the princess is awake, can we get going?”

“What’s the rush, Pidge?” Keith asked, seeming to relax further into place. “We should wait for the storm to let up before heading out.”

“I’m with Keith on this one.” Hunk said, large hands clutching the handle of a fireman’s axe. “It’s bad enough out there when we can see where we’re going, and now we’re almost out of ammo...We can’t risk walking blindly into a trap.”

“It’s flooding out there.” Pidge gestured towards the boarded up window. “If any more water collects out there, this place will start flooding, and then we’ll be wadding through waist deep water.”

“Speak for yourself.” Lance teased. To be honest, he was quite content here. His hand was stroking Keith’s forearm, fingers tracing a long, healing scratch. The motion made him sleepy. Here he was safe and warm, and Keith would protect him. He didn’t understand the danger Pidge insisted they were in. Who cares about flood waters? Keith wouldn’t let it flood.

Pidge glared daggers into him. “We _need_ to move. If we can’t see, neither can the zombies.”

Lance felt dread drop into his lower stomach like an iron ball. He curled in on himself a bit, Keith pulling him in closer in response. Zombies? That-That did ring a bell…The end of the world happened. Right. How could he forget? He didn’t want to go outside, and now he remembered why. He wanted to stay right here. Right where he was safe. With his best friends, and with Keith. Something told him going outside would kill them. Kill him. He did not want to leave.

“Okay.” Keith sighed. “You have a point. The storm will cover the sound of our movements, and as long as we’re quiet and quick, we shouldn’t run into any trouble.”

No. No this wasn’t right…They should stay. This place was safe. This house was safe.

Keith stood up, hauling Lance to his feet by his hand, a soft, reassuring smile on his face. He picked up Lance’s sniper rifle, passing it to the skittish omega. “Hey.” He whispered. “We make a good team, right?”

Lance nodded.

Keith pressed their foreheads together in a lingering moment of tenderness, before he turned from Lance, grabbed his machete from the coffee table, and walked towards a heavy metal door on the far end of the room. A mangled, rotten arm instantly appeared in the grated window of the door, causing Lance to jump. Keith promptly hacked off. Lance to a step back.

“No…” He whispered. “Don’t go. Don’t go out there.”

“Come on Lance,” Hunk started, one hand out stretched towards him. “We have to go.”

“No. No I-…It’s not safe.” He muttered.

Lance’s eyes darted around the small area. Keith’s hands were on the deadbolt, yanking it open. A wave of water far larger than what should have been possible started to flood the living room, several water-bloated zombies came tumbling in with the current, flowing with the water past Keith, Pidge, and Hunk and landing at Lance’s feet in a gurgling, clawing heap of mashing, bloody teeth, and eyes that almost glowed white in the low light.

“Lance!” Keith cried.

Lance panicked. He had to get away! His eyes shot to a closed door in the hallway on his right. He leapt over the zombies as they battled to get to their feet, reaching, grasping for him. One caught his ankle as he tried to escape. He cried out, yanking himself free and colliding with the opening of the hall, before flinging himself against the door with a hard thud.

The zombies had made it to their feet, growling and rushing towards him. Lance’s hands fumbled with the door handle before wrenching it open.

 “No Lance!” Pidge yelled.

“Not there!”

“Lance, come back!” Keith’s screamed. “Lance!”

Lance slammed the door shut behind himself, pressing against the door to brace it, and trying hard not to hyperventilate. Or throw up. God he felt like he was going to throw up. He turned so his back could brace against the door, leaning his head back, as he caught his breath. Slowly, very slowly, he relaxed, though suspicious that the zombies weren’t trying to tear down the door, or Hunk, Pidge, and Keith weren’t telling him it was safe to come out. It was almost like…

Lance opened his eyes, and took in the bright orange glow of sunset and a perfectly normal hotel room before him. He was no longer on the dirt covered floor of some run-down home, god knows where. And Hunk, and Pidge, and Keith were nowhere in sight.

The sinking feeling of impending doom was back, weighing in Lance’s stomach, and making him nauseous. It was almost like…Like he had been cut off from them. Lance turned back to the door and tried desperately to open it. He had just came through, but the handle wouldn’t budge even a millimeter! After trying the door for a few minutes, Lance gave up. There was clearly no going back. Only forward. But this didn’t feel forward. This felt boxed. He felt boxed in.

As Lance shivered at that thought, he glanced around at his surroundings. A nicely furnished, double bed hotel room, bathed in the warm, natural light. But the room was empty and quiet, save for him.

“Guys?” He asked the silent room, as if they’d appear if he simple asked them to. “Guys?” He called a bit louder.

No answer. He checked the bathroom, shocked by his appearance in the mirror. He was covered in muck and grime. Dirt splotched across his cheeks like mock freckles, hair frizzed and curled in a disheveled display. His favorite white and blue shirt was torn in several places, never mind all the dirt, and dried blood that was caked to it. His left hand was still bandaged as it had been moments ago when Keith kissed it.

Keith…He needed Keith. Keith would make this all go away. He was security. Safety.

“Keith?” Lance cried out. “Keith, where are you buddy?!”

He exited the bathroom as he called out, hand firmly on the strap of his sniper rifle that was on his back. He saw that the hotel room had a bit of a balcony beyond the window and rushed to it, expecting there to be a sliding door, and was furious when there wasn’t one. He pounded his fist against the glass before huffing a sigh when it didn’t as much as crack. He backed away from the glass, removing his rifle from his back and shooting it a few times, wincing at how loud the shots were in the deafening silence of the otherwise still room. The glass cracked with every shot. He picked up the small trash can from under the desk, and launched it at the window, breaking it out, before running out onto the ledge.

The air was hot and humid, enveloping him and forming a layer of sweat almost instantaneously. He listened for a moment, expecting to hear the sounds of life, or at least birds, but heard nothing. He was up father than he expected. Seven floors at least. He could see what appeared to be a major city beyond a large, empty field on the other side of the tall trees that lined the hotel’s mostly empty parking lot. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary here. Just still. Far too still.

“Keith! Keith, if you’re out there, say something!” He yelled out into the clear air. “Pidge?! Hunk?! Where are you?!”

Something passed through Lance’s peripherals to Lance’s right, clearly falling past him. Fear struck his heart like lightning. With his heart hammering in his chest, and breath hitched in his throat, Lance slowly tiptoed up to the edge of the ledge before leaning forward and looking down, vertigo instantly making his knees weak.

On the roof of the lobby below, laid the splattered, flaming corpse of some poor individual. The sight was a shock, horror creeping back into the atmosphere like electricity, setting every nerve in the omega on edge. Lance gasped and leapt back away from the ledge, hand grasping the front of his shirt and he tried to keep from hyperventilating. He looked up by force of habit, to control his breathing and wish he hadn’t.

Thick, dark billows of smoke fluffed and puffed upwards into the burning sky. Fire. There was a fire above him! He could see the flames reaching up to claw at the red of the sky.

A wicked snarl to his left had Lance looking up the length of the ledge, only just now realizing he wasn’t alone out there. The ledge was full of zombies. All shuffling and growling. A few on fire themselves, and a few toppling over the edge due to their clumsiness as the moved towards him, crowding in his direction. The closer ones, however, were not so clumsy, lurching towards Lance with surprising agility, having heard him crying out for his friends.

Lance’s stomach lurched into his throat, and he jumped back into the room, which had, in his absence, begun to fill with smoke as fire licked at the ceiling, rolling against it, trying to catch as the floor above buckled. He hesitated upon seeing the flames. If he went back in there…He would burn to death. He knew that. But there was no way he could face the hoard that was hot on his heels alone.

With a vicious cascade of snarls ringing in his ears as gnarled, burnt fingers snatched for his back, only managing to catch his rifle, Lance lurched forward. His momentum carried two zombies with him, toppling over one of the beds. He managed to roll out of the rifle’s strap, and away from the two zombies, too clumsy to catch or bite him as they flailed against one another. He clambered for the door that cut him off from his friends, throwing himself against it once more.

“Keith!” He shrieked, “Where are you?! Keith please!”

The ceiling behind him collapsed, dropping an inferno into the room. The zombies were unfazed, walking through the flames, ever threatening towards him. Lance turned to face them, tears in his eyes before he spotted the bathroom to his immediate right. He threw himself into the tiny room, slamming the door shut and locking it. He backed against the far wall, collapsing to the floor between the toilet and the bathtub, knees pulled tightly to his chest, as he wept helplessly.

“Keith…Please…” He cried. “Make it stop. Make it stop!”

Smoke filtered under the door, bleeding into the light until Lance was cast into darkness as the zombies outside pounded and scratched at the door. Soon the orange glow of flames appeared, and for a moment, Lance wondered if the zombies would be burnt to ash before the fire could reach him, but it didn’t seem that life was that kind to him.

The whole door was a blaze. Lance tried to shrink back against the wall as far as he could. He was hysterical now. Completely and utterly helpless. The flames crept closer, igniting his clothes from his legs up to his back. He kicked fruitlessly at the flames to keep them at bay, panicked, and crying, and begging for someone…Anyone…to save him. He didn’t want to die like this!

His skin was burning! _Again_! He was burning! Hot! It was so hot! He couldn’t breathe! He was scared! So scared! Make it stop! Makeitsto _pmakeitstopm_ akeit **stopmakeitsto _pma_** _keit_ stop!

“Lance!” Keith cried.

Lance looked up from the flames to the door. The zombies were breaking through. He was dying.

“Lance!”

-

Lance shot up in bed, gasping for air. Hot. He was too hot. He felt like he was on fire. He kicked at the flames, though he could not see them, wailing as he tore at his clothing. He couldn’t breathe. It was too hot. Too hot!

“Lance! Lance calm down! It’s okay!”

Keith! Keith was here now! He saved him once! He’d save him again!

“Keith! Keith!” He cried out, one arm flailing to find him in the darkness, while the other tugged fruitlessly at collar of his hoodie.

He felt Keith’s arms envelop him for a moment, forcing his nose against the alpha’s neck. Lance struggled against him, too afraid and too hot to be touched. “ ** _Be still_**.” Keith growled against Lance’s ear, voice calm and even. Lance gasped at the command of it, breathing in Keith’s scent. It seemed stronger than before, as it washed over him like a calming wave.

Keith’s hands went to work, pulling his hoodie off of the omega, then pulling off Lance’s sweat-soaked shirt, exposing him to the cold air of the apartment, helping to fully wake Lance from his nightmare. Lance sighed with relief as the cold air slapped his shoulders, slumping against Keith as the tension held in his body released all at once. Keith wrapped his arms protectively around the omega, gently rocking him.

 “There you go. You’re free. Deep breaths. Take deep breaths, Lance. I’m here. I’m right here.” One of Keith’s hands thread into the sweat-matted curls at the base of Lance’s neck, combing them with his fingers. “You’re okay. You’re safe. It was just a nightmare.”

Lance panted as he calmed, choking on one final sob as he managed to say, “I-…It felt so real…”

“It’s okay. You’re safe now. You were crying in your sleep. You sounded so pained...” Keith whispered, the hand at the base of his neck moving to gently massage on of his scent glands to urge his body into calming more.

“I-…I guess I got too hot.” Lance croaked, voice wrecked, as he wrapped his arms around Keith in return with a shiver, burying his face into Keith’s neck. Safe…He felt safe here.

Keith made a noise of agreement. “You _are_ very sweaty. Do you always have nightmares if you get too hot at night?”

Lance nodded weakly. “Yeah…I-…I should’ve taken off the hoodie.”

“Do you want some water?” Keith asked softly.

“Yes.” Lance replied. Keith gently peeled Lance from him before he moved to get up, but Lance caught his hand. “Wait!”

Keith paused at the edge of the bed.

“I-…I change my mind...” Lance murmured.

“Don’t worry…You’re not alone.” Keith assured him. He guided Lance’s hand to a mass of fur that chirped as it was disturbed, but otherwise didn’t stir. “Red’s right here. He’ll protect you.”

Lance nodded, fingers splaying in the cat’s soft fur. Gently, he stroked the cat’s fur, calming with every pass over the curled up lump of cat. Soon the red tabby was purring loudly at the treatment. The sound soothing the omega further, until he was in a trance, focusing on the purring and the cool air of the apartment. He felt like he was in a protective bubble of calm, and nothing could burst that bubble.

Soon, Keith returned with the glass of ice water, passing it to Lance who muttered his thanks before chugging almost all of it. He hadn’t realize he was so thirsty. Lance set the glass down on the nightstand, before sighing softly. Keith crawled back into the bed, sitting next to Lance, as he continued to pet the sleeping feline.

Keith let out a soft sigh, jarring Lance from his trance, “This is all my fault.”

“Wh-What?”

“You were having a nightmare…A horrible one. I could tell. You were twitching, and sobbing, and you kept whimpering my name.” Keith informed.

Lance bit his lower lip. “It was pretty bad, yeah. But how is that your fault? I already told you, it’s because I was wearing too many layers. Ever since I was burned…If my back gets too hot while sleeping, I have nightmares…”

“I couldn’t help you.” Keith interjected. “If I could’ve scented you hard enough, you would’ve smelled me, and you would’ve calmed down. If I could purr-…”

“Don’t think like that.” Lance declared, feeling for Keith’s hand for a second before gripping it tighht. “You were here for me once I woke up. That’s what I needed...”

“I guess…” Keith sighed. After a moment’s thought, he asked, “What-uhh….What was your dream about?”

Lance fidgeted for a moment before muttering, “Oh, you know…Just the zombie apocalypse. Then you, and my friends disappeared, leaving me totally alone, and then a hoard found me and trapped me in a fire.”

“That sounds horrible.” Keith’s voice sounded pained.

“It was.” Lance frowned, his hand tightened around Keith’s.

As Lance fell deep into thought, about the meaning behind the dream, Keith adjusted and gently guided Lance into his arms, snaking them around Lance’s bare waist, the alpha’s nose prodding against his neck until he found one of Lance’s scent glands. Keith pressed a long kiss to Lance’s skin before softly stimulating the gland with his teeth, not at all like the rough, and arousing scenting from earlier. No. This was gentle. This was caring. And with every nuzzle to his skin, Lance’s chest felt tight and warm.

Lance clung to Keith as he worked on scenting Lance thoroughly, trying his hardest to make the omega smell as much like him as possible. The treatment was definitely comforting, and before long, Lance was feeling content enough that sleep didn’t feel impossible. He gave a soft tug at Keith’s hair to get his attention.

“I think that’s enough.” He muttered, voice velvety. “I’m sleepy…”

Keith nodded. “Think you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, dude...I’ll be good.” Lance slurred as he yawned. “I smell like you, now.”

Keith leaned in taking a quick sniff along Lance’s jaw, earning a small laugh from him and a quick shove, the alpha seemed satisfied. Settling back into bed, and before yawning loudly. “I just know how persistent nightmares can be after an accident. Wanted to make sure…”

“You get nightmares too?” Lance asked, before laying down as well, crowding into Keith’s side until the alpha rolled onto his back, inviting him closer.

“All the time. I was actually surprised I didn’t have one earlier…” Keith muttered as Lance settled into his side, using Keith’s chest as a pillow, throwing his arm over the alpha’s broad chest. His arm gently wrapped around Lance’s shoulders, his fingers gently tracing over the scar tissue there, following the patterns of the burns, and drawing entirely new shapes too.

Lance let out a soft, content sigh at the touch, “What did you dream about?”

“I was riding motorcycles with my brother and his fiancé…And you.” Keith whispered.

“Awww…You were dreaming of me.” Lance teased.

Keith scoffed, “Didn’t you dream about me in your nightmare?”

Lance felt his face flush, “Nope. You were just there as background noise.”

“Then why were you whining my name in your sleep?” the alpha hummed, Lance could practically see the smirk on his face.

“You were annoying me obviously.” Lance said quickly.

“Mhmm…” Keith didn’t buy it.

Lance groaned, “Go to sleep and maybe I’ll tell you in the morning, unless I forget.”

“You better not forget.” Keith warned.

Lance wiggled a tiny bit to get comfortable, “Then I guess this is “”Goodnight””.”

“Goodnight, Lance.” Keith sighed, slightly annoyed, but withdrawing from the bickering. Guess he really did want to know what Lance had dreamed about him.

“Goodnight, Keith.” Lance murmured, a dopey smile on his lips. Maybe in the morning, Lance would cave and tell Keith all about how the alpha had unwittingly become one of his more potent sources of comfort, and that Lance was most certainly forming an attachment to this one. But Lance wasn’t quite ready to admit that to himself, yet. He did, however, admit to himself one very crucial thing: He liked Keith, and no matter what happened between them, wanted him to be his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 02/22/19
> 
> Hey all! I know previously in the footnotes for this chapter I talked about wanting to have chapters 6-9 done before March 13th, but unfortunately that will not be happening anytime soon.
> 
> To fill you in on what's going on: My laptop's hard drive got corrupted very suddenly, and I cannot afford the repairs currently. I am hoping to save up enough money between my next few paychecks, to be able to afford getting my files backed up onto an external hard drive (which I need to purchase), and getting my laptop repaired.
> 
> I thank you all for your constant outflow of support and understanding you have given me these past few months, and I promise, as soon as I have a working laptop again, I will spend all of my free time on cranking out the next few chapters of Buy My Love. I will not stop writing this fic until it is complete!!!
> 
> If you would like to support me, or just follow me in general, here's my linktree: https://linktr.ee/knight_of_trash


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